Through the Looking Glass
by Herr Wozzeck
Summary: Sonic the Hedgehog and some of his friends are captured by Eggman. Rouge joins Eggman. Shadow leaves a Chaos Emerald in Hailfire Peaks in a desperate tactic to save the world. What happened afterwards can only be described as dreamlike. Pun intended.
1. Prologue

Okay, heyo everybody, and welcome to this new fic!

So, I've had this idea for some time; what would that be? People seeing each other in dreams. I'll let you see where that goes from there. Just expect a love story and stuff, so you know what to expect if you've seen these kinds of things before. Of course, we'll get great, great character development, so keep an eye out for that.

So, yeah. I unfortunately never played the Banjo-Kazooie games as a kid, but I think the Let's Play of the series by one Rooreloo of the Something Awful forums has informed me enough, so here we go! This will include the events of Nuts and Bolts, by the way, so let's look forward to stuff, shall we? I love the Sonic series, though, so this will be tons of fun to write for sure!

And yes, I'm dedicating this fic to a very dear friend of mine in fanfiction, who's always been by my side in everything I've done. Yes, I'm talking about RoyalFanatic; a great, great Super Smash Brothers writer who's gotten into Guitar Hero/Rock Band fics as of late. She's been my friend in writing for pretty much the entirety of my fanfiction career (dating back to 2004!). So, RoyalFanatic, this fic is for you, and it's probably the best way I can thank you for all of the years of support and friendship. This fic is also dedicated in part to Madhog thy Master; his oneshot collab he's got going with his C2 is full of stories that got me back my creativity! Writer's block's never been fun, but thanks to him I've been able to write this idea down. So, this is dedicated to him and the staff of The Dark Side of the Hog C2.

After that, we need to tackle disclaimers, of course! Banjo-Kazooie, its characters, Spiral Mountain, and Showdown Town do not belong to me; they belong to the guys at Rareware. Likewise, Sonic the Hedgehog, its characters, the Chaos Emeralds, and its settings do not belong to me either; they belong to the guys at Sega and Sonic Team.

With that said, let's begin. First, a prologue! Let's begin!

* * *

**Through the Looking Glass**

Prologue

Dr. Ivo Robotnik had finally done the unthinkable.

He had captured Sonic the Hedgehog.

Shadow still wasn't sure how it had happened. All he remembered was Sonic getting himself into yet another fight against the megalomaniacal doctor again when he pulled out this incredibly complex trap. Thinking about it then, the ebony hedgehog should have realized it would be obvious how the doctor would catch Sonic. But to think that the trap would actually work was something else entirely.

The ebony hedgehog would not have minded so much if not for the fact that most of Sonic's allies had also been captured at around the same time. Tails, Amy, and Cream had been among the first to be kidnapped by the evil doctor, and shortly after this quite a few people that were also allies to the blue hedgehog had been captured. Even worse, Rouge had willingly gone to Robotnik's side with the promise of extraordinary profits, which meant that one of the only other people who could do anything was not going to do anything. Even worse was the fact that the doctor had already claimed four of the seven Chaos Emeralds to power a machine that would erase the minds of everybody on the planet to make them mindless drones to serve him; all he needed were the three remaining emeralds and the Master Emerald and he would finally take over the world.

What was worse about this was that Shadow and Knuckles were the only two people left who could possibly do anything about this conflict. Thankfully, the ebony hedgehog had a quick mind and could run even faster than that.

So naturally, he took action as quickly as he could.

He and Knuckles had both managed to move Angel Island to a remote spot far, far away from any visible land. They knew it was only a matter of time before the evil doctor would find the island and claim the Master Emerald, but they knew that they had to buy a little time for themselves. Besides, they would try to move the island again if the doctor, his minions, or Rouge (especially Rouge from the echidna's point of view) came anywhere near, so as long as neither of them was caught they would be in good hands.

However, to be extra careful, Shadow had done a little something else; he took the three remaining Chaos Emeralds, and left one of them in a place Eggman would hardly think to venture and keeping two of them to himself so he could use Chaos Control to travel as far as he could with that. With this done, he began to move all over the world quickly, making it difficult for him to be tracked by Robotnik's machinations.

Even then, however, the black hedgehog knew it was only a matter of time until Robotnik had found him, so he prayed for a miracle to occur.

A miracle, that would begin on a very, very sunny morning in Spiral Mountain, in one of the most unlikely ways imaginable...


	2. Banjo: Chapter 1

All right, so we've gotten a start on this thing. Let's begin it and see how things go from there, shall we?

* * *

Banjo: Chapter 1

It was a rather sunny morning in Spiral Mountain. Of course, Banjo never normally needed to know this fact at all, given that he owned the place and knew essentially every nook and cranny of the quiet mountain and the fields surrounding it, right down to the arrangement of the stones in Gruntilda Winkibunion's old lair.

He never normally needed to know that on an entirely different level as well; in his days after Gruntilda's humiliating defeat at Showdown Town, Banjo and Kazooie had been running around the mountain, hoping to keep their shape for whatever adventure they would go on next. And for Banjo and Kazooie, it would begin like any normal day...

"Move it, Banjo!" shouted Kazooie, sitting within the blue backpack that had served as her home for all of the adventures she and Banjo had been on. "My legs are itching to do something other than sit around here all day!"

"I'm working on it!" shouted Banjo in reply, moving as fast as he could.

The honey bear simply grabbed a hold of his yellow shorts, running faster around the mountain. One hundred laps around the mountain was was usually began their day, with the first fifty being run by the bear and the second fifty being done by the breegull on a Talon Trot. Banjo was busy running his final lap around the mountain, with Kazooie being more than eager to taunt her best friend to move faster.

Finally, however, Banjo's feet plodded over the now-repaired bridge that marked where each lap around the mountain would begin. As soon as this was done, Banjo stopped, panting a little as he came out of his run.

"Okay..." he said between pants, his hands on his knees as he looked down, tongue sticking out almost comically. "Your... turn..."

"All right!" shouted Kazooie as her legs popped out from the bottom of the blue backpack on Banjo's back. Her own feet touched down on the earth, and then Banjo was hoisted up, his legs hanging in the air as Kazooie's wings came out as well to help support the weight of the honey bear. "Here we go!"

And the red breegull was off, running the fifty laps around the mountain much faster than Banjo could ever hope to run. In this time, Banjo simply focused on the feel of the wind running through his brown fur as he cooled off, preparing for the second event of the day; running around, having walks in various locations around the Isle 'o Hags while searching for something interesting to do.

Bear and bird had pretty much nothing to do ever since their last adventure; Grunty had been put to labor at the factory of the Lord of Games, and ever since then life had been incredibly boring. This running around was their way of making up for all the eight years of time wasted on pizza and video games, as they were in no way willing to gain all that weight again. Therefor, they did nothing but run around all day for two years (of course with the occasional supply run to Showdown Town), hoping something would pull them into a new adventure somewhere along the way.

As he thought of all this, the fifty laps seemed to go faster, and before he knew it, Kazooie had stopped at the bridge again.

"Okay, fifty laps," said the breegull, panting lightly as she spoke. "Now we're free to do whatever."

At this, Banjo's feet hit the ground rather quickly, and then Kazooie pulled her legs into the backpack before turning around.

"Right," said Banjo as he looked to his companion. "You want to go to Cloud Cuckooland?"

At this, the breegull shuddered slightly in Banjo's backpack. "Well, I dunno about you, but I'm not one for heights today."

"Then what about Hailfire Peaks?" asked the bear, a little bummed that Kazooie wanted to pass the mysterious island in the sky for the day.

"Well, I guess I could do that," replied the breegull. "Fire or Ice?"

"Doesn't really matter," said Banjo with a shrug.

"Then we're going straight to the ice side of Hailfire Peaks!" shouted Kazooie ecstatically, pointing forward with her wing.

Banjo simply chuckled at this, and then he began the long trek through the hole left from the pair's second adventure (which nobody had really bothered covering up despite the fact that almost everybody in that region of the island had moved into Showdown Town).

* * *

Some time later, Banjo gripped his arms, shivering from the cold. He had truly forgotten how cold the other side of Hailfire Peaks was. Thankfully, there were no minions of Grunty's to deal with this time, but the fact that the place was cold changed nothing. Somewhere, he felt Kazooie was also regretting her decision to go over to Hailfire Peaks that day. They were at the very bottom of the peak right by the water, and they were very slowly working their way up the summit to get to the hotter side of the peaks.

"Uh, why did we come here again?" asked Kazooie, hugging herself in Banjo's backpack to keep warm.

"You said we should," replied Banjo with a shrug. "How did this place get colder?"

"Don't ask me," said the breegull, emerald eyes squeezed shut in the cold. "It was nowhere near this bad when we last came!"

Banjo simply shrugged this off, concentrating more on working his way up the peak in the freezing cold weather.

Weather. That word triggered something in Banjo's memory. It triggered a memory of something as far removed from a freezing cold mountain as it could, but it still triggered a few memories.

Memories of the day Tooty had dissapeared from his life.

The bear remembered the weather of that day horribly; he had sent Tooty off to do an errand a little before their second adventure against Gruntilda to run over to Bottles and give him something. It had been raining rather horribly that day, and when Tooty had not returned home the next day he brushed it off as staying with Bottles. Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case as Bottles had no recollection of ever seeing the little she-bear, and ever since that night Banjo had never seen his little sister again. Sure, there was a brief period in the eight years between their adventures across the Isle 'o Hags and Showdown Town where he frantically searched for Tooty, but he had been greatly unsuccessful, even after asking outside sources.

"Hey, you thinking about Tooty again?" asked Kazooie.

Banjo was a little startled by this sudden jolt out of his thoughts, but when he realized that he hadn't moved for a little and that his shoulders were slumped so that the breegull could feel it from the backpack, the honey bear sighed.

"Yeah," he said, looking to Kazooie, his blue eyes a little dull from the thoughts. "I... I'm still not sure how to think of it anymore... Especially ten years after her dissapearance..."

"Well, the L.O.G.'s on it now," said the breegull encouragingly as she pulled her wing out to gesture and wincing at the cold contacting it. "Maybe we'll finally get some answers soon."

"I hope so..." said the honey bear softly. "Ten years of not knowing what happened to my little sister... How could that be possible?"

Kazooie's wing retreated into the bag from the cold before she looked at Banjo, sympathy filling her normally fiery emerald eyes.

"I don't know," said Kazooie. "We do know, though, that she's somewhere outside of the Isle 'o Hags. I mean, we would've found her if she was still here by now."

"Yeah, but where does that leave her to be at?" asked the bear a little more fervently.

"The rest of the world, silly!" replied Kazooie loudly, jumping out of the backpack and instantly regretting it as she felt the full blast of cold against her feathers. "We know from our adventures in Showdown Town that there's more to this silly place than just this island! Also, what about those wierd tremors we were feeling around a year ago?"

"What, where L.O.G. told us the world had broken apart?" asked Banjo, scratching his chin. "Well, when you put it that way, that might be the case."

"Exactly!" cried Kazooie, raising her hand up in the air but immediately wrapping it around herself to keep herself warm. "There's a whole world out there; we just need feedback from L.O.G. and some way to get off this island, and we're good to go!"

"Yeah," said Banjo, feeling a little better after the talk despite the lingering doubts in his mind. "Thanks, Kaz."

"No problem, Banjo!" replied Kazooie, jumping into the blue backpack before she froze. "You wanna go home and play some Call of Duty 4?"

"Wouldn't say no to that!" said Banjo, running up and past a wall of rock.

However, before he could go any further, a blinding flash of light suddenly came from just above the mountain. Thinking quickly, Banjo ducked behind the wall of rock that he had just passed, waiting for the light to subside before creeping slowly towards the edge of the wall. As he did this, Kazooie poked her head out of the backpack, craning her neck to get as good a view as Banjo would.

When they looked from behind the rock wall, they noticed a black-furred person standing in the snow, eyes closed as he faced his side, the creature's back turned to them. He then opened his eyes, bright scarlet providing a violent contrast against the white of the snow from where Banjo stood.

"Who the hell is that?" asked the breegull as quietly as she could.

Banjo would have reprimanded her for using the language she picked up from Xbox Live, but before he could the creature spoke.

"Hmph," he said. "Not exactly my idea of a good hiding spot, but it'll do. I just hope somebody else finds it before the doctor does..."

The bear retreated behind the rock wall and the bird looked down to her companion, the two of them giving each other baffled looks as to the meaning of this before returning to their post watching this strange figure.

They looked over the wall just in time to see the black creature bend down and leave something on the ground. He nodded briefly, and Banjo could have sworn he saw the eyes of somebody leaving something behind with a few regrets.

"Chaos Control!"

When the hedgehog said this, he was enveloped all too briefly by a bright light. The light was not as bright as the one that signaled his entrance, so Banjo stayed put as both he and Kazooie observed this light.

When the light faded a split second later, there was nobody standing there. Confused, the honey bear walked out from behind the rock, suddenly realizing how cold he had gotten from touching the rock. Instantly, his arms were around his upper body again, and he advanced towards the spot where the strange black creature had stood.

"W-who was that?" asked Banjo as they moved towards the spot the figure had stood in.

Kazooie shook her head fervently. "Don't ask me!" she replied. "I couldn't even tell what that thing was! How am I supposed to know who he was?"

"Well, he did say something about somebody else finding something..." said Banjo.

At this point, they arrived at the exact spot that the stranger had stood on, and when Banjo looked down he noticed a strange grey jewel lying on the ground that was foreign to his eyes.

"What is _that_?" asked Kazooie, leaning over Banjo's shoulder to gaze down on the object.

"I don't know..." said Banjo, his arm moving down to pick the object up.

The instant it touched his hand, Banjo felt a strange sensation sweep through his being. The sensation was so strange he almost dropped the jewel, and he twitched so violently Kazooie's neck snapped back.

When the feeling subsided, however, the bear suddenly noticed that it was not so cold on the mountain anymore, and that was when he removed his other arm from where it was wrapped around his body.

"Banjo?" asked his friend from his backpack, a concerned expression on her face.

"I don't feel so cold anymore," said Banjo, holding the jewel up so Kazooie could see it without having to crane her neck over. "I'll bet it's this thing."

"Wait, let me touch that!"

Without waiting for Banjo's prior permission, Kazooie's wings made contact with the jewel, and then she felt the exact same sensation run through her body. After this moment, she took her wing off of the object, the sensation faded, and when she put it back on the jewel she found herself get warm as well. The breegull looked at the jewel with a perplexed expression on her face before looking back to Banjo.

"This isn't an ordinary jewel, that's for sure," she said loudly. "This thing must be really powerful if it's doing this right now."

"I wonder what this doctor that thing was talking about would want this thing for..." said Banjo.

"Something bad, I bet," said Kazooie, smiling at this. "I'll bet we're gonna meet our next onion breath soon!"

"We might..." said Banjo with a shrug and a smile, ignoring the bird's insult as he thought of the jewel. "You think we should take this to Humba or Mumbo tomorrow?"

"We should," replied the breegull in a serious tone. "We need to make a supply run anyways, so we might as well take that jewel with us while we're at it."

"Okay, then," said Banjo as Kazooie took her wing off of the strange object and Banjo stuffed it in one of hte pockets of his shorts. "Well, let's go home and play some Call of Duty, right Kazooie?"

"Oh!" shouted Kazooie, flapping her wings from Banjo's backpack as she shouted. "Let's!"

The bear then walked up the slope, his eyes a little more hopeful at the prospect of taking his mind off of things with a good multiplayer session on Xbox Live, coming complete with Kazooie's foul mouth that she had picked up from three years of online multiplayer around older people.

* * *

Later that night, Banjo had hung the backpack in which Kazooie rested on the hat rack that was next to his bed in his humble home in Spiral Mountain.

"So, Banjo, what do you want to do with that jewel?" asked the breegull from her position in the backpack.

"Me?" asked the honey bear, looking at the grey jewel they had picked up earlier. "I think I'll hold on to it; if somebody wants this thing so badly, they'll have to get it from us..."

"Well, okay Banjo," said Kazooie. "I'm trusting you on this one, so I hope you made a good choice."

_So do I..._ thought Banjo, setting the jewel on the night-table right next to the bed before pulling the covers out and jumping into bed.

"Night, Kaz," said the bear softly as he pulled the covers over himself.

"Night, Banjo," replied the bird, shifting in the blue backpack she called home.

The both of them drifted off to sleep rather quickly, more as a matter of habit than anything.


	3. Erste Träume

All right, on with the next chapter of TTLG!

So, here we get to this fic's selling point; dreams as a plot device. This will be the only medium through which the Sonic characters interact with the Banjo-Kazooie characters until a little over the half-way mark (Banjo's first chapter doesn't count since you-know-who didn't actually interact with Banjo and Kazooie). There's also quite a bit of mystery surrounding this; let the summary explain a few things for you, and know that I have an explanation for this coming up. (It's not coming until well after the first direct meeting of Sonic and Banjo-Kazooie characters.

So for now, dream sequence, GO!

* * *

Erste Träume

_Banjo felt himself floating in a great void, the edges of it blaring with lights and colors that somehow did not hurt his eyes. The honey bear was rather awed by this; most of his dreams usually involved anything ranging from nightmares of Tooty's fate through dreams of adventuring with Kazooie to fight Grunty once again to incredibly strange dreams involving some Xbox 360 game or another. Whatever he dreamt, he usually did not dream of a large void on which nothing could be seen._

_This in turn confused the honey bear a little. Feeling his shoulders and finding that he was without his blue backpack (and subsequently of Kazooie's company), and also noticing that his feet seemed to be planted on solid floor despite the lack of a visible floor, he looked around. Orbs of sapphire were then looking all around the void for any sign of anybody else as he suddenly walked forward, even more surprised that he was in control of his actions._

_"Hello?" he called out into the void, beginning to feel a little frightened by these prospects. "Is anybody there?"_

_The bear did not receive a reply, and he scratched the tuft on his head a little as he looked around. Somebody had to be in this void, and Banjo was scarcely ever one to wonder when people would show up._

_"Hello?" he asked once again, just to make sure that he was not alone._

_"Huh? Who's there?"_

_A female voice was suddenly heard from the void. This sent Banjo looking around, his body moving along with his head as he turned around to get a good view all around him. He saw nobody around him when he did this, however, so he simply brought his hands to his mouth._

_"Hello?" asked Banjo, staggering around a little as he called out into the void. "Where are you?"_

_"Huh?" asked the same female voice again. "Who're you?"_

_Before Banjo could reply, he suddenly felt something touch his shoulder from behind him. Startled, the honey bear jumped back and looked behind him to find a female bat standing behind him wearing a most peculiar jumpsuit with a heart-shape on her chest. Banjo said nothing at first, simply looking at the female bat who had appeared in his dream._

_"Me?" inquired the bear simply. "I'd worry more about you! What're you doing in my dream?"_

_"What're _you_ doing in _my_ dream?" replied the bat, pointing first at the bear and then at herself as her other hand brushed over one of her ears. "That's what I want to know!"_

_"So you're dreaming this too?" said Banjo, regarding this with a slight nod. "So I guess we're dreaming each other..."_

_"I guess..." said the bat. "Where are we, anyway?"_

_"I'm not sure..." Banjo looked to his sides as he said this, the colors still in the distance as he and his bat companion both seemed to stand on the air. "We'll have to figure that out. I'm Banjo, by the way."_

_The bear held his hand out to the bat as if to offer a handshake. Shyly, the female bat took the hand and shook it gently._

_"Rouge," she said. "Rouge the Bat. A pleasure."_

_Banjo could have sworn the smile that Rouge had given him as they shook hands meant something not entirely pleasurable, but he simply shrugged it off as it was a friendly smile and he was never one to doubt the word of others._

_"So, what're you doing here?" asked the bear._

_"Oh, I don't know..." said Rouge, pacing around on the air as Banjo watched her every move. "I just went to bed, and here I am, in your dream."_

_"Same here," replied Banjo with a shrug. "I dunno, though... This is way too wierd, you know?"_

_The bat simply shrugged, her wings twitching slightly as the bat stopped moving, her back to Banjo._

_"Trust me, it can't be any wierder than the stuff I've seen in my life," replied the bat. "Interdimensional portals, hoverboard races, jewels that reconstruct themselves... I've seen a lot, I can tell you that. So this is probably nothing special."_

_Banjo simply chuckled at this, causing Rouge to send a glance in his direction, topaz eyes shining in confusion._

_"Trust me, what you've seen can't be any wierder than an evil witch that fights you with a board game and a quiz show," he said in reply. "Also, she managed to stay alive for eight years even though she was literally a skull trapped behind a pile of rocks."_

_Rouge looked a little flabbergasted at this revelation, and then she looked down at the void below them, her wings beating uncertainly._

_"Point taken," she said sheepishly. "What kind of witch fights you with a board game?"_

_"Don't ask me," replied Banjo with a shrug. "I was the game piece..."_

_The bat raised one of her eyebrows at this, her ears perked up as she looked at the honey bear perplexedly._

_"Huh," she said with a shrug. "You have any idea what might be doing this?"_

_"I'm not sure, Ms. Rouge..." replied Banjo as he scratched his chin. "I think I might know something, but I'm not sure..."_

_"Oh, please, just call me Rouge. That 'Ms.' stuff makes me feel like an old lady!" The bat walked over to Banjo in her own peculiar way, her hand on her hip as she looked at Banjo. "You think you could find that out, hun?"_

_Banjo noticed something seductive in Rouge's tone of voice, but he ignored it, thinking nothing of it._

_"I was planning to even before this dream," he said simply. "I've also got a friend who can make people lose weight by wishing it; I'll be he'll know something..."_

_Rouge once again gave the bear a confused glance before shrugging and pacing around again with that walk that Banjo found to be one of the most suggestive things he had ever seen in his life._

_"You really have seen some really wierd things in your life," she said, shaking her head with a nervous smile hanging on her lips. "And I have a mad scientist type that I know, so maybe I can ask him..."_

_Banjo raised his eyebrow in confusion. "A mad scientist type?" asked the bear. "Are you sure you should tell him?"_

_"Why not?" asked the bat with a shrug. "I'm working for him right now as it is, so I'm sure one small question can't hurt."_

_As soon as he heard this sentence, Banjo tensed in a way that Rouge could hardly tell he was stressed by what she said._

_"I... I wouldn't know if it's a good idea..." he said. "I mean, what if he plans to take over the world?"_

_Rouge glanced over to the side quickly, this small question sending a doubt shooting up her spine._

_"You're right..." she said softly. "I mean, he is trying to take over the world..."_

_"Aha!" shouted Banjo, pointing a finger at her accusatorily. "So you would tell him, right?"_

_Rouge simply scratched the back of her ear, sighing at this. "Well, to be perfectly honest, I haven't been a fan of his with everything he does..." she said. "I'll wait and see what goes on with his latest plan, and if I dislike what he does with it I won't say anything about this. I mean, I'm only in it for the money he promised, you know?"_

_"Fine," said Banjo, holding his hands up in a relenting gesture. "I just hope you know what you're doing..."_

_"Oh, trust me, I know what I'm doing," replied Rouge with a giggle. "There is a reason why I'm a professional treasure hunter after all..."_

_Banjo raised his eyebrow once again at this, deciding not to talk much about it._

_"Right," he said simply. "This is only a dream, though, right? I mean, we could forget everything we talked about here..."_

_"Well, if we're both making sense here, then there must be something else," said Rouge with a shrug as she stood still, her back to Banjo._

_"I wonder..." said Banjo. "If this is a dream, when do we go back to the real world?"_

_"Eh, we'll see..." said Rouge. "It's probably abrupt like an actual dream..."_

_"Maybe," said the bear with a shrug. "I wonder--"_

_

* * *

_

Banjo opened his eyes and sat up in his bed ever so slowly. The sun was shining through his window, and then he gazed out of it, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as his gaze turned to the jewel on the night table.

Looking at it, the details of his dream suddenly came back to him, and then he looked at the jewel with a puzzled expression on his face before shrugging.

"What a strange dream..." he thought aloud, looking out of the window again.

"Hey, sleepyhead, get outa bed!" cried Kazooie's voice from the doorway. "I've been waiting for breakfast!"

This alarmed Banjo as he realized that he had overslept again. The bear promptly jumped out of the bedsheets, running into the adjoining kitchen and rummaging through the cabinet the way he would every time he overslept.

"Sorry, sorry!" he shouted, his hands falling on Kazooie' birdseed as he pulled it out of the cupboard.


	4. Rouge: Chapter 1

And we're back with this.

Now, things are going to get very, very dark. The standard format that we're following here is going to be a chapter of events from Banjo's (and sometimes Kazooie's) perspective, a dream sequence where Banjo and Rouge talk, and then a chapter told from the perspective of one of the Sonic characters, usually Rouge (although a few other characters from the Sonic universe get their chances to tell the story from their perspective). Usually, Banjo's chapters are them doing stuff (with a bit of comic relief thrown in there if I can manage it), with the dream chapters just being Rouge and Banjo talking about various things, and Rouge's chapters are where the dark stuff comes in.

And trust me, it gets very dark. Let's just say that after all those failures at taking over the world, you'd think Eggman would start going to extremes, yes? That leads to some very, very bad situations...

On that note, I'm gonna start this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Rouge: Chapter 1

"Are the emeralds in the slots?"

"Yes, doctor."

"Good! This will be great, indeed!"

The bat looked at the little centerpiece of the circular room she was in. There were seven slots for each of the Chaos Emeralds, three of which were filled with the powerful jewels as she beheld the larger slot meant for the Master Emerald once they finally acquired it. She then looked around, the grey metallic walls and the window outlooking into a white room providing a rather grave atmosphere for the place she was sure she would do most of her work in.

Rouge and Dr. Robotnik had been preparing the device that would wipe all semblance of individuality from people once Eggman secured every location he could. The doctor was rubbing his chin, the other hand grabbing one of the coat-tails of his red coat (a mannerism Rouge never noticed before) as he was lost in thought. The bat shrugged, wondering why she had to install the three Chaos Emeralds that he had into the machine, and then she decided to ask the doctor about this.

"Why are we installing the emeralds, anyway?" asked the bat.

"Other than the one I left you as a consolation prize?" asked the doctor in reply.

Rouge scoffed at this, a dismissive hand gesture accompanying her short chuckle. "I know I'm going to have to turn that one in when you have all the emeralds," she said simply. "I'm just wondering what the other three emeralds need to be installed there for."

"Why do you think?" asked Dr. Robotnik with a wink. "To test it, of course!"

This reply surprised Rouge greatly, and it showed in her facial expression as her eyes went just the slightest bit wider. She kept her cool in front of the doctor, although she was still brimming with questions as she looked at the doctor.

"Test it?" asked the bat. "But why would we need to test it?"

"To make sure it's functional!" replied the doctor. Rouge swore there was something in his voice signifying anger, but she thought nothing of it.

"But, doctor, don't you think it's already going to function well?" asked the bat, probing as close as she could in the hopes of not bringing him over the boiling point.

Robotnik simply shook his head, adjusting his goggles on his face as he glanced at Rouge disbelievingly. "Do you think I'm not good enough?" he asked leeringly.

"No, doctor!" replied Rouge quickly. "I'm just wondering; you know, you have an IQ of three hundred, shouldn't it already be a guarantee of success?"

The doctor visibly took a deep breath to keep himself from blowing up. "That IQ never helps me against that hedgehog," said Robotnik cooly as he began to pace the room. "This plan is going to work perfectly, and if that hedgehog has anything to say about it it'll be that I've finally triumphed over him! And if it means I test my methods of taking over the world to the point where I know it'll work, then damn it, I'll take that route!"

Rouge nodded in reply, noting the slight jerks in the doctor's hands as he moved around. She simply walked over to the work table she had installed and began to fold it into a manageable size.

"I see..." said the bat. "But doctor, don't you think this is a bad idea?"

The doctor chuckled softly before turning to Rouge, shaking his head with his long bushy moustache following his every move. "Of course not!" he said. "Are you suggesting that my methods are faulty?"

Rouge almost replied automatically, but checked herself and shook her head. "No, Dr. Robotnik," replied the bat.

"Good," said the doctor, chuckling. "I was afraid I would have to dock your pay for a second there. Now, I want you to fetch me that two-tailed fox!"

* * *

The prison room was a little depressing. Usually, Rouge avoided it like the plague to avoid Sonic's insults, but a part of her avoided it also because it was such a depressing space to be in.

Yet, as she walked in there again, she found the cells-- no, even that was generous-- cages to be as depressing as ever, what with how close the space was and the fact that each cell held two people. Sonic glared at the bat from his cage where he was in constant physical contact with Amy Rose, the aqua hedgehog's emerald eyes seething with hate and anger. Tails and Cream were both seen in the same cell just a few feet away, Tails glaring at Rouge in a similar fashion as Cream tried her best to stay away from the bars. Again, the metal walls were no help in making the place cheery, and coupled with the light glow from the bars of the cages, the walls actually gave a very eerie effect within the room.

"What the hell do you want from us this time, bitch?" asked Sonic angrily, barely able to control his disdain for the agent.

"Whoah, calm down, blue," replied Rouge, pulling an electronic key out of her cleavage as she advanced to Tails' cage. "I'm just getting Tails out of here. Robotnik's orders."

"Fuck him!" spat the blue hedgehog angrily. "What the hell does Eggman want from him?"

"Testing," replied Rouge distastefully. "He's going to test his latest idea on Tails."

"Damn it, Rouge, get a grip!" shouted Amy from where she stood close to Sonic. "Don't you think this is a bad idea?"

"What?" asked the bat with a shrug. "I'm just here for the money!"

"Yeah, and you turned your back on the rest of us!" shouted Sonic angrily. "You turned your back on Tails, Cream, Amy, me, Knuckles, Shade... Hell, you turned your back to Shadow! To Shadow, of all people! I thought you two were inseperable!"

"Mr. Sonic is right!" added Cream, a little calmer than the blue hedgehog but still quite angry. "You can't just betray us all and expect us to say nothing!"

Rouge sighed, flashing the key against an electronic pad, this resulted in the cage door opening rapidly. Sonic shot an angry glance at Rouge, trying to resist the urge to touch the bars while keeping himself from accidentally shoving Amy into the bars as well.

"I'll be honest, I don't think it's such a good idea," said Rouge. "And more likely than not it's going to fail like all his other plans have. But you know how things roll."

"Profits?" cried Tails angrily as Rouge's hand dove into his cell. "No! You can't let him push you around like that! You're letting him push you around! I'll guarantee your profits won't be worth your guilt in the end!"

The kitsune briefly resisted against Rouge's attempts to grab his arm. Unfortunately, this ended when his arm hit the cell, which automatically gave him an electric shock. The fox retreated his arm back, just within swiping range for the bat. She then yanked Tails out of there, and then the cell door closed behind him.

"I know..." said Rouge with a shrug. "But that's the way life goes, kiddo."

"Hey!" shouted Cream angrily, having to resist the urge to grab the bars. "You can't just tell him that! You meanie!"

Rouge simply turned around, hauling Tails behind him.

"Hey!" shouted Sonic's voice from behind her. "You get back here right this--" here, Sonic got zapped by the bars of his cage, "OW! second, you bitch!" Sonic was shocked again by the bars, "OW! You're going to be getting a lot of hell from Knuckles when he--!"

But by this time, Rouge had left the room, her grip on Tails' wrist hard as she did her beast to hide her injured pride at the blue hedgehog's nasty statements. The truth was, his comments more than anything else bit into her conscience rather hard, but she grinned and bore it.

"You're no worse than Eggman!" shouted Tails as he was led down the hall by Rouge's iron grip. "I think you're worse!"

"Don't start, Tails," replied the bat, tightening her grip on the kitsune. "I already disagree with the doctor as it is; don't make me feel any more guilty about it than I have to."

The kitsune shook his head angrily, attempting to jerk his arm free from Rouge's grip but finding himself unsuccessful. "Then you're still wrong!" he replied. "You know it's wrong, so why are you working with him?"

Rouge said nothing, and so she carried the struggling fox to a door that Robotnik had directed her to send Tails to. With another swipe of the electronic key that she had held in the hand that was not holding Tails in place, the door opened with a slight hiss.

The bat then threw Tails into the room, knowing he would not go if politely asked. Rouge then quickly shut the door, trapping the kitsune in the room right within Robotnik's viewing range. She then returned straight to the control room, where she noticed Robotnik watching Tails banging on the door. Rouge, seeing this, shook her head at the futility of this gesture, and faced the doctor she worked for.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Rouge, the doubt evident in her tone of voice.

"Of course it is!" replied the doctor. "Now, watch my genius in action!"

With this, the doctor pushed a red button on the console in front of him, his gaze directing itself to the top of the room.

A green energy began to build up from an antennae that had been installed at the top of the room. The green was so prominent against the grey metallic walls that for a second all seemed to stop, with Tails looking behind him. When Rouge saw the fear implicit in his sky blue eyes, she knew instantly she would regret her decision, and she looked away right before the green energy radiated throughout the room. There was a slight sound of an engine roaring, and then all was silent as the green dissipated from the room.

When Rouge finally found the courage to look back, she saw Tails standing stock still by the door, no longer trying to break free of the wide prison he had been put in. His eyes now lacked any signs that pupils had been there, which greatly disturbed the bat. Robotnik looked on the kitsune almost madly, and Rouge could have sworn she had heard a deranged chuckle under his breath.

"Jump."

It was then that Rouge noticed a microphone istalled onto the control board. The doctor's index finger was depressing a small button just underneath where the microphone was, and the doctor was grinning. The bat turned her head just in time to see Tails landing from a jump he had apparently done.

"Jump."

The second time Robotnik said the command, Rouge's eyebrows rose in disbelief as Tails jumped up into the air, the yellow fur providing a stark contrast against the metallic walls.

The doctor depressed the microphone button, smiling broadly as he looked to his assistant.

"Most excellent!" replied the doctor. "We'll begin more extensive testing tomorrow."

_I hope it's not too extensive..._ thought Rouge. The only thing she did was to nod in agreement with the doctor.

"Of course," she said before exiting the room. "I'll see you tomorrow."

And with this, the bat left the room.

Suddenly, the memory of the honey bear she had met in her dream the night before came to mind for some inexplicable reason. She suddenly realized that Banjo had a point in saying some of the things that he said before Rouge had woken up that morning. Her memory of the dream was also very bizarre; instead of remembering faint bits like she would with every other dream she had, she remembered every word, every gesture, every sight of her dream right down to the multi-colored void that she and Banjo were suspended in. Knowing this, she looked back on the room she had just exited and shook her head.

_There's no way in hell I'm telling Eggman about my dream..._ she thought, topaz eyes widening slightly as she moved down the hall. _I'm still going to work with him for profits, but that dream is never going to get mentioned, ever._


	5. Banjo: Chapter 2

And we're back, ready to have Banjo figure out what the hell he encountered on Hailfire Peaks (It's not like it's already obvious, but still, it's the journey and the fact that it leads to other stuff...).

So, on with Banjo's next chapter!

* * *

Banjo: Chapter 2

The one hundred laps that usually began their day had ended too slowly for Banjo. Somehow, thoughts of figuring out what that grey stone that was being tossed about in the pocket of his shorts was pervading his mind, along with thoughts of the mysterious bat he had met in his dream the night before. Thus, he went a little faster than he usually did when it was his turn to run the laps, and he beckoned Kazooie to run faster during her turn. Yet, even with this, the point when Banjo regained his feet after talon trotting around the mountain several times came almost too late for him. He almost didn't realize it first before he looked down and found his feet planted on the ground and Kazooie's wing patting his had impatiently.

"So, off to Showdown Town?" asked Kazooie as Banjo looked at Kazooie.

"You bet!" he said, running towards the location of the portal that would take the two of them to Showdown Town. "I've been waiting all morning!"

"I can tell," replied Kazooie dryly, crossing her wings in front of her as she looked above Banjo's head. "You've been giddy as a schoolgirl since you woke up this morning."

"Oh, shut it," replied Banjo as he ran through the fields of Spiral Mountain, eventually finding his way to the portal that L.O.G. had set up for them at the beginning of their previous adventure.

Kazooie simply shook her head, thinking about how out of character Banjo was acting at this moment in time as they went through the portal and were sent tumbling down the familiar slope into Showdown Town. Banjo had learned not to try to run down the slope or else he would risk landing on his face the way he usually did, so he placed one foot in front of him and slid down the mountain in this fashion.

What the bear did not foresee was literally bumping into a familiar cheetah on his way down, and then Banjo, Kazooie, and said cheetah were all left in a heap on the ground, bear and bird on top and cheetah below

"Oh! Mr. Trophy Thomas!" shouted a surprised Banjo, literally jumping off of the blue-haired cheetah and bowing a few times in apology. "I'm so sorry!"

"Oof..." said the cheetah as he grabbed his bright red sunglasses and put them back on his face before turning to Banjo while straightening his bright hair. "That hurt! That, and you messed up my hair!"

"You asked for it, sun face," jibed Kazooie from Banjo's backpack. "When we have a supply run, don't walk near the slope."

The overconfident cheetah shook his head, adjusting his #1 medal on his neck. "Yeah, yeah, spare me that talk. You're earlier than usual, anyways..."

"Well, that's because we needed to see Humba about something," replied Banjo. "You know if she's in the workshop?"

"Oh, Humba?" asked Thomas, lifting his sunglasses so his light teal eyes could scrutinize the bear. "Yeah, she should be in the workshop. You should probably move it, though; she's about to run to the wigwam again to test her shaman stuff."

"Actually, that's probably better," replied Banjo with a shrug. "We just wanted to get something looked at is all."

"Oh, okay," replied the cheetah as he walked away. "You better not bump into me like that again."

Kazooie shook her head at this. "You better watch your step, cat wannabe!" she cried after him.

"Kazooie!" shouted Banjo as T.T. walked away from the bear and the bird.

"Oh, we're wasting too much time here anyway!" replied the breegull angrily. "Let's just head over to the wigwam and wait for slut face there."

"Sure... wait, _what_?" asked Banjo, turning to face Kazooie at this new use of foul language.

Kazooie chose not to answer, instead whacking Banjo on the head with her wing.

"Move it!" she cried.

The honey bear did not hesitate for one second after that, as soon as she commanded him to move faster, he was running towards the outskirts of Showdown Town, where Humba's wigwam lay waiting for them to enter.

* * *

When bear and bird both arrived at the wigwam, they both found Humba sitting on the overly large chair that she had set up. The layout of the wigwam was rather familiar from the pair's second adventure, except there was a table of shamanic objects splayed out in front of the chair in place of the pink pool that Banjo remembered from that journey all those years before. The wigwam itself was rather simple, excepting the fact that a dreamcatcher was now hanging from one of the wooden poles used to hold the place up. When they walked in, the shamaness looked at them and smiled.

"Hello bear and bird," said Humba in greeting. "Humba think it nice to see you two."

"Hello, Ms. Humba," replied Banjo with a respectful nod of his head as Kazooie winked. "Listen, I think there's something we need your help on."

The woman cocked her head to the side, just a little confused as she tugged at her jean shorts. "What bear and bird need?"

"Well, see, we were adventuring on the ice side of Hailfire Peaks yesterday," began Kazooie, gesturing with her wings as she spoke. "And when we were heading home, this black... furry... thing... comes out of nowhere and leaves this strange jewel! And when we touched it, the cold wasn't so bad!"

"Huh," said Humba, scratching her chin. "Humba see strange stone?"

"Sure," said Banjo, fishing into his pockets.

He pulled out the grey jewel, and then placed it on the table amongst Humba's other charms that were splayed out all over it. The jewel flashed in the light for a second, and then Humba walked out of her chair and picked the jewel up gingerly. She then inspected it, turning it around in her hands as he eyed the object, scrutinizing every detail.

Then, the shamaness enclosed both of her hands over the jewel, and suddenly her eyes shot wide open, a mysterious glow emanating from the jewel. This surprised Banjo and Kazooie as well, who looked to their friend as she abruptly pulled her hand away. After this strange encounter, Humba turned to them with a rather consternated expression on her face.

"Humba sense huge heap power from strange jewel," she said, placing the object down on the table. "Humba think no good come from stone."

"Really?" asked Banjo. "That would explain some of the things that the black thing said..."

Kazooie, though, was less pleased. "Okay, so we're set for an adventure," she said, slightly peeved. "Now what is that thing?"

"Humba no seen strange stone," replied the shamaness with a shrug. "Humba not know what it is..."

"Oh," said Banjo, his tone of voice hinting at disappointment but keeping his cheery demeanor as well. "I see. Do you know anybody that might help?"

Humba nodded at this, a slight smile on her face. "Computer man may know," she said simply. "See him."

"Oh, wait, you're saying Pong face might know something?" asked Kazooie crossly. "You're cheap, you know that?"

"Kazooie!" shouted Banjo, brown fur standing on end.

"What?" asked the bird, leaning on Banjo's head as she spoke. "You know I'm right!"

"That's not the point!" replied Banjo. "Maybe he does know something! I mean, he is the creator of all video games, and seeing as how he created all sorts of games I'm sure he'll know what this came from."

Kazooie shook her head, cooing in distaste as she folded her wings in front of her. "And you're really trusting computer head with a lot considering we're seeing this object!"

Banjo shrugged. "We've gotta try anyways," he said simply, turning his attention to Humba and picking up the jewel from the table. "He's at his factory, right?"

The shamaness simply nodded at this. "Humba sure he let you in."

The honey bear nodded, and then looked to Kazooie before giving a thumbs up sign to the shamaness. "Thanks, Humba!"

"No mention anything," replied Humba with a smile on her face. "Glad to help bear and bird again!"

With this, Banjo left the wigwam, leaving Humba to her thoughts and the bear and bird duo with one less question on their minds and many more following that.

* * *

"Huh... And then we make them do stuff... And... Well..."

Sheets were suddenly sent flying into the air, half of them spontaneously combusting in the air as the occupant of the large, brightly lit office teleported to the door.

"No!" shouted the L.O.G., his two pet mice stock still on his monitor head. "That's not going to work! How do we expand the action-RPG to accomodate turn-based RPG fans?"

The creator of all video games shook his head, his long cloak at the air just beneath him as he was deep in thought. The two pet mice proceeded to move all over him again, and they continued to move as the L.O.G. thought about it.

As he was thinking, a buzz sounded from his desk from the receptionist of his video game factory. Noticing this, the omnipotent computer teleported to his desk and promptly held one of the buttons down with his mind.

"What is it, Grace?" he asked, just a little dismayed that something happened then of all times.

"Uh, I've got this bear and bird here, they say you're acquaintances?" asked the secretary, her voice filtered through the speakers that were on his desk.

"Banjo and Kazooie?" he asked, his interest piqued. Why would they ever come to his factory?

"That would be them," replie the secretary. "They want to come over to your office, sir. They said they had something they wanted you to look at. Should I send them up to your office?"

This piqued the curiosity of the computer, his screen lighting up as he heard this. "Please do," he said.

In a matter of minutes, the L.O.G. heard a knock on his door. Upon hearing this, the lord's mice scampered to the back of his head.

"Come in," he said.

The door opened then, and the familiar bear and bird duo that the L.O.G. had propelled on their last adventure stepped in.

"Hello, Mr. L.O.G.!" said Banjo politely as he stepped into the office.

"Ah, Banjo!" replied the computer. "Always a pleasure to see you and Kazooie coming by."

Kazooie looked pretty peeved from Banjo's backpack. "What I want to know is why pig face down at the lobby is such a bitch," said Kazooie dryly.

"Kazooie!" cried the honey bear. "Not in front of her employer!"

"Eh, Grace can be like that sometimes," replied the L.O.G. stoically. "She probably had a bad morning is all. She's usually like that on bad mornings."

"I noticed, rectangle eyes," replied Kazooie just as dryly.

The creator of all games shifted slightly from where he was behind his desk. "So, you had something you wanted to show me?"

"Yep," replied Banjo, his hand diving into his pocket and pulling out a grey jewel. Recognition seemed to flash on L.O.G.'s monitor as Banjo held the jewel in his hand. "We ran into this at Hailfire Peaks yesterday. Some black... furry... thing dropped it here and talked about someone else finding this before some doctor did."

"We wouldn't know, we didn't have a direct interaction with him," added Kazooie. "So we just took it to shaman lady, and she said this thing has a lot of power in it. So what is it?"

The L.O.G. was stock still as he looked at the jewel, processing the information in his mind. A few questions then came to mind, and then he looked at Banjo and Kazooie, his monitor shining just a little brighter.

"Let me ask you something first," said the L.O.G. "Did you notice if this black furry thing had any shoes on?"

Banjo scratched his chin at this, but Kazooie was stock still, her expression shifting from concentration to epiphany and confusion.

"Now that you mention it, it did..." she said, looking up to the sky. "They were red, and looked rather wierd. But why's that important?"

The L.O.G. suddenly teleported away, surprising both Banjo (who dropped the item in his hand in his surprise) and Kazooie as he appeared right by one of his filing cabinets. The cabinet zipped open ridiculously quickly, throwing bear and bird off even more than they already were as files were levitated and placed back in the cabinet with frightening speed and precision. Even Kazooie was surprised, her emerald eyes wide as the L.O.G. flew back to the desk, dropping a file onto it. Banjo quickly bent down to pick up the emerald, stashing it into his pocket as he looked at the file uncertainly.

"W-what was that about?" asked the breegull, her voice showing quite a large amount of surprise as Banjo looked at the file that was on the desk.

"I know what you were talking about," replied the L.O.G., his computer mice moving around his head as he spoke. "The file should tell you more."

Banjo picked up the file that lay on the desk hesitantly, and stared at the manila folder for quite a lengthy period of time. He looked to Kazooie for reassurance that he got rather quickly from his breegull companion. The bear gulped slightly as he opened the file.

This initial hesitation turned to complete shock as he saw an image of seven jewels within the folder. All of them were different colors, with green, orange, blue, and yellow all appearing along with purple and red. But perhaps the most surprising thing was that one of the jewels was grey. Even stranger was that all of the jewels in the image seemed to have exactly the same cut as the jewel that was currently sitting in Banjo's pocket. In his surprise, Banjo let the folder down slightly and looked at Kazooie. The breegull, who had been peering over Banjo's shoulder the whole time, was just as shocked as he was over this. The bear suddenly turned to the Lord of Games, pointing at the folder.

"What is this from?" he asked, the shock evident in his voice.

"It's from a rather popular video game that came out well before you had your first adventure," replied the lord stoically. "The items themselves are called the Chaos Emeralds."

"Chaos Emeralds?" asked Kazooie, too surprised by the developments that had unfolded before them. "What the hell kind of name for a jewel is that? And what do they do anyway?"

The L.O.G. tilted his head to the side, the mice struggling to catch their footing at this new angle. "Don't ask me about the name," replied the omnipotent computer. "And they are the most powerful entities on this planet. They can turn thoughts into power, give life to all living things, power nuclear devices and whatnot, et cetera."

"Wow..." said Banjo, who had gawked at this temporarily. "No wonder that black thing didn't want that doctor to do anything!"

"Wait, what was that black thing anyway?" asked Kazooie, rubbing her beak with her wing as she said this.

"Oh, him?" asked the Lord of Games. "He's part of the franchise that these emeralds come from. His name would be Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Hedgehog?" shouted Kazooie obnoxiously, snapping her head back. "What do you mean, that was a hedgehog? I didn't think hedgehogs could be taller than moles, especially goggle boy!"

"Then again, you wouldn't think hedgehogs could have blue or pink fur, now, did you?" replied the L.O.G. "Lots of things happen in this franchise that a normal person wouldn't think of."

Banjo pulled at the tuft on his head, shrugging as he did. "I wonder what else is there..." he said.

"You want to see the entire universe?" asked the L.O.G. "I can get you the files right now, and you can borrow them for a few days."

Banjo's sapphire eyes lit up at this, a smile appearing on his lips. "Would you?" asked the honey bear.

The L.O.G. vanished rather quickly, teleporting through all of his filing cabinets and taking various files out. Eventually, he arrived with a huge pile at his desk, all of the manila folders neatly stacked in such a way that the long cloak that concealed the L.O.G.'s body was half covered by both desk and paper. Astonished, Banjo and Kazooie could only look.

"Oh, thank you, Mr. L.O.G.!" said the honey bear quickly, bowing down politely.

"Now, my only question is, how are we going to get all this back to Spiral Mountain?" asked the breegull.

The button on the creator's desk was then depressed, and the L.O.G. spoke into the speakers on his desk.

"Grace, could you send a cart up here?" he asked. "Some people are going to be borrowing some of my files for a few days..."

"Sure," replied the secretary. The connection was cut off after this.

The L.O.G. then looked over at Banjo and Kazooie, his pong face still giving the same expression it had given them throughout their entire conversation. "So I'll let you borrow all of the files on the franchise for a few days," said the lord stoically. "And when I say a few days, I want them back as soon as you're done with them."

"Oh, thank you Mr. L.O.G.!" said Banjo, his smile gleaming brightly as he spoke.

Kazooie cooed, rolling her eyes as she pulled at one of the feathers on her head. "I just hope this isn't included in whatever talks about our next adventure..."

"Actually, fanfiction authors are rather pesky like that," replied the L.O.G. "I think he's already put it in."

Kazooie's pupils shrank rather quickly after this comment, and then she looked up at the sky and back at the L.O.G. before narrowing her eyes and slouching in Banjo's backpack.

"Damn it."

* * *

When bear and bird had finally arrived back at their home in Spiral Mountain later that night, they pulled their cart with two boxes of food and L.O.G.'s manila folders up to their house. Once they arrived back at their home, Kazooie jumped out of Banjo's rucksack, and then she began to remove things from the cart that they had borrowed from the L.O.G.'s gaming factory. Banjo helped with this, and when just the manila folders were remaining Banjo entered the house and carted the item of manila folders into his room. He left the cart there, looking at all of the manila folders as he settled the cart in a place where he and Kazooie both had room to move around. As soon as he had placed the cart in a satisfying position, he ran outside to help Kazooie with bringing their supplies into the house.

Right when he got outside, he began picking up some boxes of food that he and Kazooie had gotten when the breegull cawed out to him. With the box already over his shoulder, the bear looked over to Kazooie, who herself had a small box on her back.

"We're gonna look at all that tomorrow, right?" asked the breegull.

"You bet," said Banjo, walking into the house with the box over his shoulder. "I wonder what's in those folders..."

"Well, I personally can't wait to see this 'Shadow' hedgie's face," replied Kazooie as Banjo held the door open for her and the two of them unpacked the boxes of food on their small table. "And I wonder what he meant about blue and pink fur..."

The bear shrugged as he took some items of food and opened the refrigerator door, dropping the items of food in there. "I wonder if that black hedgehog used those emerald things to warp around..." he said as he did this.

Kazooie shrugged from where she was unpacking the boxes, dropping the items on their table. "I wouldn't be surprised," she said. "But that doesn't explain how he got out of there by warping."

"Maybe he had some of the other ones," replied the honey bear with a shrug as he moved towards the table. "I wonder if he's okay..."

"I would think so," replied Kazooie as she stopped briefly to put her hands on her hips. "Night creature looked like he could handle himself."

"Still, I can't help but worry about him..." said Banjo with a shrug as he packed more food items into the refrigerator. "I hope he and whoever else is on his side are okay."

"Including us, right?" asked Kazooie dryly.

The honey bear let out a chuckle as he walked back to the table and grabbed the last of the food items they had bought from Showdown Town. "I know _we're_ okay," he said. "That's a given. I mean, you're standing here in front of me, and I'm standing here talking to you, so we both know we're fine. I just worry; I hope he's not alone..."

Kazooie shrugged as she put the empty boxes off to the side, brushing her wings together when she was done. "Well, since we picked that thing up, I know he's not alone," she replied. "As long as we've got that jewel in our posession, he's got somebody supporting him."

The bear nodded, his dark brown fur shining in the light as he lumbered around. He let out a yawn before walking into his room, slinging his backpack over the coat rack.

"Well, Kazooie, I'm gonna hit the sack," he said tiredly.

"Aw, dinner at the Summer Shack got to you?" she play-taunted from the kitchen.

"Nah," replied Banjo as he stretched his arms and jumped into bed. "Just a long day is all..."

"Well, good night!" shouted Kazooie from the kitchen.

"Night," said Banjo as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.


	6. Zweite Träume

Okay. So, last time, we had Banjo and Kazooie finding out what the Chaos Emeralds are, along with some breaking of the fourth wall completly intended for comic relief purposes (yes, that mention of myself as the 'pesky fanfiction author' was intended). Expect more fourth walls to get broken in their sections to counterbalance the darkness of Sonic Team's chapters. So, yeah.

After that, let's get back to our daily dream sequence!

* * *

Zweite Träume

_Banjo found himself in a dream again, this time in a small room that for some reason had walls consisting entirely of silver metal. It was much less familiar territory than even the colorful void he had stepped in last time, and the only reason he was not actually uncomfortable was because he noticed Rouge laying down in a bed in the corner. The bear was confused by the flourescent lightbulb that was fixed in the ceiling, the bright light illuminating his chocolate-covered fur as his sky blue eyes looked around, seeing the place devoid of decoration._

_Suddenly, he heard a slight shifting, and that was when the bear noticed Rouge sitting up in bed, looking at Banjo with shining topaz eyes._

_"You remembered everything that occurred in our last dream, didn't you?" asked the bat quickly, standing up and acknowledging the bear._

_"Yes!" replied Banjo, raising his hands in the air. "There's something else going on!"_

_Rouge nodded. "That much is for sure," she said, looking to the door. "And there's no way in hell I'm telling Eggman over on the other side of that door what's going on."_

_Banjo's eyebrow rose in curiosity. "Eggman?" he asked. "That's the name of the doctor?"_

_"Well, technically, his real name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik," replied Rouge, gesturing with her hand as she grimaced in distaste. "But since he's such a fatass his greatest rival has gone to the liberty of calling him 'Dr. Eggman'. I wonder if that evil witch that fought you had a stupid name..."_

_The honey bear shrugged at this. "If Gruntilda Winkybunion is stupid, then yes."_

_Rouge looked at Banjo briefly, and all too suddenly her eyes shone in merriment. In an instant, the bat had doubled over, laughing hysterically, her eyes shut tight as she let loose her loud laughter. Eventually, her laughing was so hard that she was writhing on the ground, tears coming out from her eyes at how funny she thought the name was._

_"Oh, God!" she managed to get in the middle of her laughing. "Winkybunion! Ha ha ha ha ha! Wait until Sonic and friends hear about that! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, my god! Ha ha! Winkybunion! Haaaa...!"_

_"I'll take that as a yes then," replied Banjo, a slight blush creeping under his cheeks that his fur was thankfully doing a good job of hiding._

_Eventually, the bat's laughter died down, and then she stood back up, wiping a tear from her eye as she realized something._

_"Although, how would you make fun of that, anyway?" she asked._

_The bear shrugged, taking the time to sit on Rouge's bed. "I dunno," he said, settling into the surprisingly soft mattress beneath him. "But Kazooie keeps calling her things like 'onion breath' and all that..."_

_The bat's eyebrows rose slightly as she heard this. "Kazooie?" she asked. "Who's that?"_

_"Oh, Kazooie?" asked the honey bear, only then noticing the absence of his rucksack on his back. "She's my best friend. We've lived in the same house for around twelve or so years. Well, no, actually, she's lived in my rucksack for that long. Or... I don't know how long anymore. It's hard to count. I've lost track after all the adventuring I've done with her. But anyways, she's always gone on every adventure I've been involved with, and every time she's been useful. She's also come up more insults than I can shake a finger at..."_

_"Really?" asked the bat, shrugging. "You don't have any secret feelings for her, do you?"_

_Surprised, Banjo rose up from where he sat on the bed abruptly. "W-what?" he asked. "Of course not! We've been the best of friends, but it's only been that!"_

_"Are you sure about that?" suggested the bat, placing her hands on her hips._

_"Of course!" replied Banjo. "Kazooie's often way too loud and mean for me to actually feel for her in _that_ sense..."_

_"I see..." said Rouge, one of her fingertips tracing her lips. "What is she, anyway?"_

_"Oh, she's a bird," said the honey bear, shrugging as he began to move around the metallic room. "I found her in the blue rucksack I was talking about earlier. I don't wear it in bed, though..."_

_"Hm..." Rouge tried to imagine Banjo wearing a blue backpack on his back, and when she found herself seeing a snarky bird sitting in a blue backpack she nodded._

_The bear, meanwhile, had another question forming in his head. "And who's Sonic?"_

_"Oh, him?" asked Rouge, leaning against the desk. "He's Dr. Eggman's greatest rival. Always has been, and probably always will be. Anyways, he's a blue hedgehog..."_

_Banjo's eyes flashed briefly at this revelation, his mind going back to the L.O.G.'s comment to Kazooie he had made earlier that day. Thinking of this, the bear scratched his chin. "And he keeps emeralds away from this 'Eggman' person, am I right?"_

_The bat gasped in surprise as she heard this sentence. "H-how did you know?" she asked._

_Banjo smiled brightly, crossing his arms in front of his chest and nodding._

_"You know that friend that made people lose weight by wishing it?" began Banjo. "He knew something. In fact, he was able to tell me that I actually have a Chaos Emerald with me right now that was left by one Shadow the Hedgehog."_

_The treasure hunter's ears were pointed high in surprise at this, her mouth just slightly agape. She did not say anything as her mind tried to process how a simple and seemingly unassuming bear had found out about those two things. The silence was so long, Banjo's face eventually fell, his smile forming into lips that were curved downward as his eyes percieved her deep state of thought._

_"H-how?" she finally asked. "How did you find out?"_

_"Well, given that this friend of mine is omnipotent..." replied Banjo with a shrug. "Why? What's the matter?"_

_"Shadow's one of my best friends!" exclaimed the bat perturbedly. This comment greatly surprised the honey bear, and he abruptly brought his arms behind him to brace himself against the wall. "Well... he was... I guess..." she added uncertainly._

_Suddenly, Banjo's eyes took on a tone of concern for the bat, and then he came forward, standing in front of the bat. "What happened?" he asked._

_"Well, I betrayed his trust..." she said uncertainly. "I... You know this doctor and his rival Sonic, right?"_

_"Yeah," replied the bear. "What happened._

_"Well, this time the doctor managed to capture Sonic..." replied the bat. "And he would've captured me if I hadn't joined him voluntarily..."_

_"And that meant betraying your friends?" asked Banjo, anger flashing ever so briefly in his sky blue eyes as he asked his._

_Rouge nodded uncertainly, laying a foot to rest on her desk. "But already I'm having doubts about it," she said. "First of all, he's doing something that I find fairly disturbing to one of Sonic's best friends. Second, I don't know if the rest of them can look me in the eyes without hating me anymore..."_

_"And is there something else?" asked the bear._

_"Oh, just that I was going to steal the emeralds from under the doctor's nose once he had them all," replied Rouge with a bitter, mirthless chuckle. "But now... I don't know if it's such a good idea anymore..."_

_Confused, Banjo tilted his head to the side. "And why?" he asked._

_Rouge pulled both of her legs in, hugging them slightly as she smiled bitterly. "Well, you know, at first I figured 'hey, I'll steal those jewels from Eggman when he has them all'. You know, it works for me because I get all of the Chaos Emeralds to myself, and it works for everybody else because it means Eggman gets defeated once again, and right when victory is right in front of him. But lately... after seeing Eggman do that to Tails, I just don't know anymore..."_

_"And is there something else?" asked Banjo, trying to see if Rouge really could be moved by one incident._

_The bat laughed briefly at this, surprising the honey bear greatly as he stared at her._

_"What?" asked Banjo swiftly, leaning in towards Rouge._

_"It's gonna sound like something from a crummy romance flick..." she replied, shaking her head rapidly. "You're gonna laugh, I know it."_

_"Well, try me," he said, folding his hands together as Rouge released her legs and sat with her back against the wall, her legs stretched out on the desk._

_"Well, I guess it's when I met you..." she replied._

_At this, Banjo's fur stood on end from surprise, and he felt a strange sensation wash over his being as Rouge looked at him, her topaz eyes shining in expectation. The startled bear was too surprised to do anything other than to just stare, and when he finally felt his fur go at ease again, he shook his head in disbelief._

_"W-what do you mean?" he asked, his voice sounding slightly flustered._

_"Well, to put it simply, you're the most optimistic, unassuming person I've ever met in my life," she replied, voice soft and endearing. "And from what I can see about you right now, I guess you're also the kindest person I've ever met. And I don't know anymore... You've got a Chaos Emerald, so I guess I'm just afraid to involve you in all of this..."_

_Banjo was not entirely sure what to say to Rouge after she said this. The two of them were simmered in relative silence for quite some time, Banjo scratching his chin as he pondered what to tell Rouge. Finally, however, he placed a hand on the bat's shoulder, surprising her a little by the contact._

_"If he comes for me, I'll be ready for it, and I'm sure Kazooie will be too," he said, smiling. "I've battled an evil witch four times in my life; what could make some mad scientist any worse?"_

_The bat shrugged lightly. "Well, the fact that his machines are tailored to fight a guy who can run faster than the speed of sound..."_

_Banjo gawked at this, his jaw hanging agape as he took in this minor detail. However, when Banjo felt Rouge's hand patting his own, his jaw closed rather quickly._

_"But I appreciate your optimism," she added with a smile. "People like you are really hard to come by these days. So, thanks."_

_Banjo blushed slightly, and this time his fur was not enough to obscure it. With his free hand, he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, closing his eyes as he did._

_"Uh, you're welcome, Ms. Rouge..." he replied sheepishly._

_Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, realizing what he had done. Both of them were stock still, although Banjo was more petrified by the look in Rouge's eyes as she glared at him. Finally, Banjo removed his hand and blushed even more intensely while looking away, and his gaze suddenly found itself to be very interested in the wall._

_However, instead of being reprimanded by the bat, Banjo only heard a slight giggle from her direction. He turned his head quickly to see that the hand that had been on the desk was against her mouth, which was curved in the most genuinely cute smile Banjo had ever seen in his life._

_"You know what?" she asked. "You actually sound rather cute when you say it like that."_

_In reply, Banjo blushed so hard that even with his brown fur the tint of red on his cheeks was strong enough to make Kazooie's feathers jealous. To this, Rouge only giggled harder, a small blush forming on her own cheeks._

_"I think we're both getting flustered here..." said the bat, looking at the wall._

_"That's what it seems like..." said Banjo, the blush on both of their faces intensifying as he said this. _

_There was a rather awkward silence for some time, both Rouge and Banjo turning away from each other to gaze at the wall. Their blushes eventually did die down, and even though Banjo was the first to blush he turned rather quickly to the bat._

_"Rouge?" he asked._

_"What is it?" asked the bat._

_"You're going to try to beat this Dr. Eggman person, right?" he asked uncertainly, Rouge turning to gaze into his eyes._

_Rouge took a rather long time to look at the corner uncertainly before turning to the honey bear._

_"Well, you know I can't just waltz in there and steal all the emeralds from under his nose like that right now," she replied with a shrug. "That would be stupid. But if there's something more subtle that I can do to fight against him, I'll do it. And if he ever gets all of the emeralds, you know what I'm going to do."_

_Banjo smiled, nodding his head simply at this as he took Rouge's hand and shook it ardently._

_"Then I'm on your side," he said._

_Rouge blushed slightly, an embarrassed smile creeping on her lips._

* * *

Banjo woke up the next morning rather slowly. The sun was only just rising, meaning he thankfully had not overslept as he was often wont to do after a day of hard work moving things in Showdown town. Kazooie still slept in the blue rucksack that hung on the coatrack.

Seeing Kazooie's red feathers brought back the dream he had just woken up from. A slight blush crept over his cheeks as he thought about the sexy bat and their interaction last night. As he thought of this, he pulled the covers over his person, and hoping to surprise Kazooie that morning by having the birdseed out extra early, he snuck into th kitchen while avoiding some of the floorboards that he knew would creak under his weight.


	7. Rouge: Chapter 2

All right. We had fluff last chapter where we established that Rouge is not alone. *is getting flashbacks to that song from _Into the Woods_* So, moving right along, into a darker section...

Complete with a Monteverdi quotation! Go to L'incoronazione di Poppea!

* * *

Rouge: Chapter 2

Rouge walked into Robotnik's little control room that morning, going over to the doctor. As she did, however, she suddenly heard a harpsichord flourish that sounded from a boombox that was installed into the wall. The harpsichord flourish surprised Rouge greatly, but when a female voice began singing she was all the more jolted.

**Che vi credete, o dee,  
Divider fra di voi del mondo tutto  
La signoria, e'l governo,  
Escludendone Amore,  
Nume, ch'è d'ambe voi tanto maggiore?**

When Rouge had finally recovered from the initial shock over the multiple continuo chords and the female voice, she pointed to where she noticed the speakers jutting out of the grey wall. When she moved to speak, however, Robotnik waved his hand, and Rouge was silenced, looking at the doctor with a confused expression on her face as she listened to the music.

**Io le virtudi insegno,  
Io le fortune domo,  
Questa bambina età  
Vince d'antichità  
Il tempo, e ogn'altro dio:**  
**Gemelli siam l'Eternitade ed io.  
Riveritemi,  
Adoratemi,  
E di vostro sovrano il nome datemi.**

As another pair of female vocalists came in, the doctor saw it fit to cut the tape off there, hitting a button on the remote that effectively paused the music as the doctor turned to Rouge.

"W... Was that medieval opera?" asked the bat, looking towards the speakers at the other end of the room.

"Correction, Rouge; it was _Baroque_ opera," replied the doctor as he crossed his arms in front of him. "They didn't have opera until the end of the Renaissance, and it didn't become an established form of music within the public until 1637."

"Right..." replied Rouge hesitantly, looking down at the ground momentarily. "I wanted to ask you something else..."

"What is it?" asked the doctor as he looked at Rouge from where he sat in the chair right in front of the control panel.

The bat cleared her throat, looking out of the window into the room where Tails was being held before looking back at the doctor. "Well, you know, I was just worried about Tails. Are you sure you know what you are doing?"

"Of course," replied Robotnik, turning his chair. "I'll just have him shoot targets today."

"Well, all right," replied Rouge. The female was admittedly very unconvinced by the doctor's reassurance, and as she remembered the conversation she had had with Banjo the night before she glanced over to Tails, who stood stock still in the center of the room he had been placed in the day before. "I'm just worried is all..."

At this, the doctor eyed Rouge and stood up. "Are you accusing me of unfair treatment?" he demanded, slamming his fist against his chair's armrest.

"No!" replied the former G.U.N. agent, holding her hands up in her defense. "I never said that! I'm just hoping this doesn't get out of hand!"

"Trust me, Rouge, it won't," replied the doctor with a smirk on his face. "I do hope I won't have to dock your pay sometime soon."

The bat moved to reply when she heard the doctor's last sentence. Deciding it would be better to leave it at that, the bat sighed and glanced briefly at Tails in his entrapment before nodding.

"I'm sorry," she replied. "I'll try not to question your motives again."

And with this, she turned around, exiting the room with a soft sigh. When she left, she could have sworn that she noticed a diabolical smile on the doctor's lips reflected in the metal wall.

As she walked down the halls just after this, she couldn't help but think back to the honey bear she had been meeting in her dreams lately. Banjo was so adorable sometimes, and even though she didn't like to admit it, she was beginning to feel rather... comfortable around the bear. She only wished that she could have met him in the real world, even if there was something about meeting a person in one's dreams that was appealing in and of itself.

She knew also that her experiences had to be with a real person; there was no way a fictional character could have such an impact on her as to make her think that somebody calling her 'Ms. Rouge' was actually cute. She had also truly never met somebody so unassuming and gentle as the honey bear she had been seeing in her dreams. She found it absolutely ridiculous that somebody had named him after the musical instrument, but then again the bat knew the same could be said of her mother naming her after an item of make-up.

Rouge suddenly found herself wondering why she was seeing the honey bear in her dreams. She figured the Chaos Emeralds had something to do with it, but even then she knew that the emeralds alone could not superimpose a person into another's dream. So that left her to wonder what else was there. She then thought of asking Banjo if he had any magical objects near him, as she was sure that he must have had something that was amplifying the power of the one emerald that he had. After all,--.

"Rouge, you bitch! Don't think you can come in here and expect me to be friendly!"

It was at this loud exclamation from Sonic that she realized she had absent-mindedly walked into the prisoner's quarters, with only the angry glare of Sonic, Amy, and Cream to greet her. This realization caused the bat to jump back slightly, and her topaz eyes lightened as angry emerald seared her.

"Oh!" cried the bat, putting her hand on the heart shape of her jumpsuit. "S-sonic!"

"You've got a lot of nerve waltzing in here like that after that stunt you pulled yesterday!" cried Amy from where she knelt beside Sonic. "What did he do to Tails?"

Rouge was taken aback by the yelling from the rose-tinted hedgehog, but she quickly gained her composure and grabbed her gloves. "He... Well, he erased his personality with his latest plot to take over the world."

"Y... you mean... Tails doesn't do anything by himself anymore?" asked Cream from her cell, hazelnut eyes softening in sadness.

"I guess you could put it like that, yes..." said Rouge softly, looking at her gloves as she felt Sonic's glare burn holes into her body. "I--"

"You bitch!" cried the blue hedgehog angrily, being held back by Amy to keep him from charging head-first into the electric bars. "How could you let this slide? How?"

Rouge opened her mouth to reply when she suddenly realized that there was nothing she could say that would be truly correct anymore. True, she could tell them she was waiting for Robotnik to collect the Chaos Emeralds, but that would destroy all of the planning that she had done to this end. So she simply sighed and gave her usual response;

"Profit," replied Rouge with a hand gesture. "You know how things are. But the doctor promised me that nothing too bad would come of this."

"Are you crazy?" cried Amy, pointing to a spot on the wall that Rouge suddenly realized she had never seen. "Then what the hell is this?"

The bat, confused, walked closer to the cages, and then a sight caught her peripheral vision. When she turned around, she was utterly shocked by what she saw.

Mounted on the wall opposite the cages where everybody was, there was a huge television, the length touching from the door that Rouge entered from all the way to the opposite wall, with the height going essentially from the floor to the ceiling. This sight was unnerving enough for the bat, but in very high quality she was able to see Tails standing around, looking at the targets that were flashing by. This was very shocking to the former G.U.N. agent, so much that she backed up into one of the electrical cages, her ears almost making contact with the bars.

"Holy..." she said, awed. "The doctor never said anything about this..."

The kitsune kept listlessly shooting at the targets at a ridiculously fast pace; the bat guessed that the doctor was going absolutely crazy giving the two-tailed fox a ton of commands to follow. Rouge imagined every command, and every command was what Tails carried out. What was more frightening about this was the precision as well as the speed; the fox hit every target that was in sight, and with a speed so frightening it put every G.U.N. agent Roue had ever known to shame.

"W... What...?" asked the very shocked bat.

Finally, the fox stood stock still, the shards of all of the targets the fox had sat down lying scattered on the floor, and complete silence took over the room. The agent was able to feel the strange mixture of anger, shock, and awe that hung in the room's atmosphere, threatening to collapse as she looked at the screen blankly.

"My... My goodness..." she said finally. "I... I'm going to go talk to the doctor!"

With this, Rouge strutted out of the door with such a speed that it shocked Amy and Cream out of their angry stupor. The bat still felt Sonic's angry glare on her back, but she paid it no mind as she moved through the halls to return to the control room.

* * *

Rouge was unable to make a dramatic entrance, what with the sliding door to the control room. However, as she walked in with a frown on her face, Robotnik knew that something was up. Of course, he failed to notice Rouge's presence fast enough, for then she was standing on his lap, pointing a finger in his face.

"Do you think I'm _stupid_?" cried the bat almost immediately, the frown on her face telling all as her finger intruded into his personal space for emphasis. "I may remind you that I worked for the fucking _government_ for several years!"

"Rouge, what is this all about?" asked the doctor, suddenly very shifty as he tried to move around with the bat on top of him.

"I know about that TV screen you set up in the prisoner room!" shouted the bat. "And I know that if you've set things up there, you don't have anything pleasant planned. So you better tell me everything about your plans, Eggman!"

"Ah, see, I'll have to dock your pay if I tell you," replied the doctor snidely. "That, and you called me that ghastly name."

Rouge huffed before turning to the emeralds that were planted in the pedestal. Upon gazing at the gems, however, she suddenly got an idea, and then she slinked off of Robotnik's lap before slyly walking over to the emeralds.

"Well, see, there's a slight problem with that setup," replied the bat. "Because if you dock my pay, I would like to leave." The bat's hand slinked over the Chaos Emeralds that were in the slots as she smirked evilly. "And if I leave, I might just make a pit stop here right before I leave. And I'm sure you wouldn't want these things to leave, would you?"

The doctor sighed before shaking his head and standing up.

"All right then," replied the doctor. "I was thinking of having that fox shoot a young adult in the head, but after hearing this I think you'd rather take care of her."

Robotnik then walked over to a small radio transmitter that he kept by the microphone. He paid no mind to Rouge's shocked expression, instead turning to the window to look out into Tails' cell. Slowly, he picked up the transmitter, and pressed the button.

"All guard-bots, there has been a change of plans," said the doctor stoically. "You are to bring the she-bear to the control panel, right this instant!"

The doctor then placed the transmitter down and nodded to Rouge. The bat's arms were still stretched over the emeralds, but she finally took them off as they noticed the sliding door open. Four guard-bots, as Robotnik had called them, came in holding a teenage bear with shackles. As Rouge moved around the pedestal, she saw that the bear had very dissheveled blonde hair and dull bluish-grey eyes, and the red shirt she wore betrayed the fact that the captive was a woman. The instant Rouge laid her eyes on the she-bear, the bat felt all the shock melt into a great feeling of pity on the creature that looked listlessly at the ground.

"All right, Miss," said Robotnik to the bear. "I've decided not to kill you. Miss Rouge here will be your guardian. And you better thank her when you two are alone; it took her a good amount of convincing to change my mind."

At this, the guard-bots let the she-bear go, whereupon she crumbled to the ground. Rouge had knelt by her side in an instant, and the feeling of pity that had begun surging in her heart only swelled as she looked down at the bear. No doubt something horrible had happened to her, and even as the guards left the room she looked down at the bear, stroking some strands of blonde hair away from the bear's face as she looked into fear-stricken eyes.

"It's going to be all right," was Rouge's reply to these looks as she helped the bear into a carrying embrace where the bear's face was looking over the bat's shoulders.

The bat carried the bear out of the control room, the bear saying nothing as Rouge carried her. For the first time that she could remember, Rouge had really regretted applying her sea-blue eyeshadow that she usually applied each morning, mostly because it brought a bitter sting to the tears that she was crying then.

* * *

Some time later, Rouge had brought the mysterious she-bear over to her quarters, where she sat on the ground, simply staring listlessly ahead of her. The feeling of pity within the bat was slowly beginning to be worn down, what with the circumstances. Rouge had not really tried to talk to her all day, however, instead preferring to attend to other duties throughout Robotnik's base before turning her attention to the stranger she had unintentionally (though she was thankful for the intervention, thinking about what would have happened if Amy had not pointed out the TV's presence to the bat). The bat stood at the door, and seeing the bear sitting on the ground, she knelt down, getting on her hands and knees in front of her charge. Instinct was telling her to slap the teenager hard, but something about the bear's presence in the room convinced Rouge otherwise.

"Hey, are you all right?" asked the bat.

The bear gave Rouge no response, instead staring ahead of her without seeming to notice the bat's presence. To this, Rouge simply shrugged.

"I'll take that as a yes," she said, extending her hand out to her charge. "I'm Rouge, by the way. Rouge the Bat."

And once again, the bear didn't seem to notice the presence of the bat-woman right in front of her. With a raised eyebrow (and everything in her mind telling her not to slap the poor girl senseless), she simply stood up and walked past the bear.

"Well, if there's anything you need, just let me know," said the bat. "I'll try to make you more comfortable here. I'm sorry this had to happen to you. So if you've got anything you want to say, you can tell me; I'll keep it a secret."

Rouge moved over to her bed, hoping to get a quick nap.

"I... I don't know... who I am... And nobody... wants to tell me..."

Rouge stopped right as she had placed her right knee onto bed. The bear's voice was more hoarse and deep than any female voice had the right to be, and the quality of it disturbed the bat greatly, so much that she looked to the only other person in the room.

"I... I've been hurt... as long as... I can remember..." Rouge could have sworn she heard tears being emitted, and the initial disturbance wore away almost instantly as the bat stepped off of the bed. "It's been nothing... but non-stop pain... Don't try... I can't..."

In a split second, Rouge was on her knees, holding the bear in a tender hug. The nose of the mysterious bear found itself buried in Rouge's shoulder, and the bear simply broke down in tears.

"There, there," said the bat, patting the back of her companion as she spoke. "Don't worry. Nothing's gonna harm you, and if they do, they'll have to answer to me. That's a promise."

The bear simply nodded into Rouge's shoulder and continued to cry. The agent simply hugged the crying bear against her, letting the tears soak into her white fur as she closed her eyes pensively.


	8. Banjo: Chapter 3

All right. Last time, we got a shit ton of questions dropped on our plate. How often will Rouge exploit her new blackmail tool? Will Rouge ever go back into Sonic's favor? Just who is that she-bear that Rouge ended up saving? And just what is Eggman planning?

That's for me to know and you to find out!

And now, for something completely different...

* * *

Banjo: Chapter 3

Kazooie was in a rather good mood during the customary 100 laps that they took around the mountain, thanks mostly to the fact that Banjo had somehow woken up before she did to prepare her favorite birdseed grits. It was great that when Banjo was walking back, she declined to say anything snarky about the files on the way home. Now that Banjo was laying the files all over their blue-painted table inside their modest home, she was beginning to become very impatient. She found it easy to suppress, though, mostly because the excitement was overpowering the feeling of impatience in her.

"So, Kaz, what do you think is going to be here?" asked Banjo as he pulled the last file from the cart onto the table.

"Oh, I dunno," replied the breegull excitedly. "I just can't wait to dig into all this stuff!"

"Same here," said the bear as he pulled a chair over to the table and sat down. "So, where do we start?"

Kazooie rubbed her beak in her seat next to Banjo as she thought of the one thing she wanted to see. "I was wondering what Pong face was referring to when he talked about blue and pink hedgehogs..."

"Hm..." said Banjo, skimming through to the file that was on the top of the pile and shrugged.

"Well, since we're not sure where to begin, let's just start with the top of his pile and work our way to the top," he said as he held the file in his hands. "Sound good?"

The breegull nodded as she stood on her chair. "Let's open it!"

It so happened that when Banjo opened the first file of the day there was an image of a blue-tinted hedgehog smiling right back at them. The hedgehog gave the two viewers a thumbs up sign with a smirk that seemed to say a lot about his personality. The bear held the image in front of them, and silently he acknowledge that this person had to be the blue hedgehog Rouge referred to as Sonic.

"I think I know what computer head meant now..." said Kazooie as Banjo turned the page to find a bunch of text. "What does it say?"

"Well..." said Banjo, running through the fine print very quickly. "It says here that he's the series' main... uh... hero... And his name is Sonic."

Kazooie snickered briefly. "So that means blue boy has our function in his games?" asked Kazooie. "I'll bet he's stopping a plot to save the world right now if those emeralds are here!"

A pang of uncertainty instantly hit Banjo, and his eyes glossed over as he thought about what Rouge had told him. If this Sonic person really had been kidnapped and he was just finding out that the Chaos Emeralds were real, then Banjo knew he had to be ready. Thankfully, Kazooie had gotten all of their skills back, so he would be ready for it, but there was still good reason for him to worry. The honey bear shook it off, though, shaking his head as his breegull companion read the fine print.

"And he also apparently has a super transformation that happens when he gets all seven of the emeralds..." said the breegull. "That is kinda creepy, yes?"

"I'd imagine," said Banjo as he read on. "And apparently he also gets sucked into classic stories from time to time..."

The breegull chuckled at this, a wing covering her mouth as she did this. "That's actually kinda funny," she laughed out softly. "I wonder what his specialty is..."

Banjo squinted so he could read some of the fine print, and then pointed a finger when he noticed something. "It says here that he can run at the speed of sound," he said, the wonder eminent in his voice. "I'll bet that's how he takes... uh... whoever his enemy is... down..."

"We'll find that out soon enough," replied Kazooie as she picked up another folder from the top of the stack. "Now, let's move on to another folder, yeah?"

"Sure," said Banjo, closing the manila folder and depositing it in the nearby cart. "What's this one say?"

The breegull opened the manila folder, and then an image of a fat doctor in a red tailcoat was seen. The bear noticed how fat the doctor was, and connected in his head that this had to be the man referred to as Eggman by Rouge. The doctor certainly did not seem too evil, though, as his girth was something admirable, and his goggles that he wore on his head looked absolutely ridiculous.

"Wow, this guy's worse than goggle boy!" the breegull was quick to point out. "Not only does he have bad eyes, but he's fat! Looks like our next onion breath is actually a lard tub."

Banjo shrugged at this, letting the artwork leave an impression on his mind before turning the page. He read through the text and was quite surprised.

"He's the enemy of Sonic, it seems," said Banjo. "And... his name's kind of complicated. Ivo Robotnik?"

"Eh, I like Eggman better," replied Kazooie with a shrug as Banjo took the folder in his own hands. "It's got that insulting ring to it, you know?"

"Yeah," replied the honey bear. "He also apparently builds robots..."

Kazooie looked at the text around where Banjo had pointed out. Her head then darted to another spot of text before going back to where Banjo had indicated movement. After this movement, the breegull burst out laughing, an action that caused Banjo to look at her strangely.

"He's got a huge IQ, and he still manages to get trounced by speed feet?" asked Kazooie, snorting in between her bouts of laughter. "Oh, man, this guy's worse at being a villain than onion breath!"

"I dunno..." muttered Banjo under his breath, figuring Kazooie couldn't hear him under her laughter. When the breegull's laughing finally died down, she shook her head.

"Oh, man, I'm gonna have a ball when I meet this guy!" exclaimed the bird as she huffed and puffed after her laughter. "I wonder what's next..."

Banjo closed the manila folder they had just looked at and picked up another file. She opened this up, and he was greated with an artwork of the bat he had been seeing in his dreams. His normally calm sapphire eyes widened greatly in surprise, although Kazooie didn't notice this and instead leaned closer to the artwork.

"Wow, hut girl's got some competition for earning the title of 'slut face'," said the breegull, an infinite amount of curiosity dripping in her voice. "I wonder who--"

But before she could comment further, Banjo had flipped the page, barely grazing Kazooie's beak with the leaf of paper as she retreated her head.

"Hey, watch it, Banjo!" cried Kazooie, holding onto her beak. "What's the rush anyway?"

And when the bear kept silent on the question the bird had posed to him, Kazooie instantly knew something was up. Banjo finished reading before turning straight back to the artwork and looking at Rouge with a sense of awe in his eyes.

"Banjo?" asked Kazooie.

The bear shook his head. "Her name is Rouge..." said the bear simply, surprising Kazooie greatly. "She's a treasure hunter, and she's... There's more to her than this thing is telling me..."

Kazooie raised an eyebrow, green eyes gazing at the bear in confusion. "Why do you say that?"

Banjo sighed softly before turning to put the still-open folder down. As he did this, he turned to his friend, looking at Kazooie straight into her confused jade eyes with somewhat apprehensive blue eyes.

"I... I dunno..." he began. "Ever since we got our hands on that Chaos Emerald, things have been pretty wierd. But you haven't seen the half of it." Here, Banjo paused, looking down at the ground and then at Kazooie. The breegull took her friend's hand in her wings, encouraging him to go on with only a head gesture.

"Kazooie... I've been seeing her in my dreams... And I don't think that they're just dreams..." said Banjo finally.

The breegull was suddenly very confused by this revelation, and she leaned back.

"What are you talking about, Banjo?" asked Kazooie. "That's just silly! Why do you say that?"

Banjo sighed and stood up, facing away from his breegull companion and putting his hands behind his head as he thought.

"Ever since I've gotten that emerald, I've been seeing that lady in my dreams..." he said as he began to pace around the living room. "And the wierd thing is, I can remember everything that was in that dream. I remember it right down to where I was inside a room during my dream. Kazooie, these aren't any normal dreams I'm having."

The breegull's green eyes were concentrated on Banjo the whole time, nodding slowly as she heard Banjo.

"And why didn't you say anything about this yesterday?" asked Kazooie.

Banjo turned around then, his arms falling to his sides as Kazooie noticed a strange look in his blue eyes. "Because last night was when she told me that she remembered everything too."

The bird was greatly confused by this. "And how're you supposed to know if that's true?" asked Kazooie. "For all we know, eyeshadow abuser over there could be just an illusion."

"But I swear, I saw her, and she was real!" replied the bear passionately, throwing his arms in the air as he knelt in front of Kazooie for emphasis. "I touched her once, and... It didn't feel like those ghosts at Mad Monster Mansion or whatever. It felt completely real! There's no way I'm making this up, she was real! Do you really think I'd make up a person from this universe without even having seen her in the real world until now?"

Kazooie rubbed her wing against her beak, crimson feathers a little dull in the mid-morning sun that seeped through the window. "Well, when you add in that it's in vivid detail... I guess not..." she said finally. "But what does that mean?"

"It means something like this..." began Banjo, his tone of voice much more serious than Kazooie was accustomed to from the usually easy-going bear. "That Eggman person? He's captured Sonic, and all but a few of his friends, too. And he's trying to take over the world, but he needs the emeralds to do it."

"Of course?" asked Kazooie wryly, hoping to lift her friend's spirits up.

Banjo of course missed the joke, and so he continued, turning his back to his friend. "Yeah. And that means we might be in his sights sometime. I mean, I know we'll be ready for that, but... well, Kazooie, I dunno why I feel so odd about all this... It's just so much stuff has come at me... And.. I dunno... I guess I'm just worried about you is all. I mean, you'r my best friend, and I don't know what could happen if--"

The bear was interrupted by Kazooie launching herself at her friend. Even more jarring for the bear was that he found her wings wrapped around his body (or attempting to, what with being a larger animal than Kazooie), which was something the breegull rarely ever did, even to Banjo.

"Oh, you silly old bear!" she cried with a laugh. "Remember when Grunty kidnapped me all those years ago? I was all right then! When this lard tub shows his face, I'll be ready to kick his ass right by you, so don't you worry about me, all right?"

Banjo's surprise quickly wore away as he heard Kazooie's reply, and he sighed gratefully while looking at his companion.

"Thanks, Kaz," he said, one of his arms going around the back of Kazooie's neck as he held her closer to him.

"Don't mention it," replied the bird, with what seemed to be a grin on her beak. "Besides, I'm not gonna lower myself to onion breath's level anytime soon. Especially since M. Bison wouldn't approve."

The bear was still for a second, scratching his head with his free arm in confusion as to what Kazooie had meant.

"Oh, come on, you can't have missed this author person's favorite Nostalgia Critic joke!" cried the bird.

Banjo was still for a second before he realized what she had meant, and then he laughed rather loudly, the reference to the joke bringing a smile to his face.

"There's the Banjo I know best!" exclaimed Kazooie, jumping down on the ground and returning to her seat. "Let's look over some more files now, shall we?"

"Of course," said Banjo, returning to his seat and closing the file about Rouge as Kazooie picked another folder from within the pile.

* * *

Surprisingly, bear and bird had managed to go through every single one of the L.O.G.'s files on Sonic and everything in his universe, and had still put every file back in its proper place a little after the sun had gone down. As Banjo carted the files into a space where they could easily remove the cart from the house, Kazooie walked by him, humming a small little tune. Curious, as soon as Kazooie stopped and as soon as Banjo had settled the cart into a good spot, the bear turned to the bird.

"What's that tune you're humming?" asked Banjo.

"Oh," shrugged Kazooie. "I dunno. I just remember that I heard somebody humming it when I was a kid..."

Banjo shrugged. "Was that... before I found you?"

Kazooie nodded. "I think that winter changed everything." she said, looking at the ground. "That blizzard was something else. If you hadn't come by and rescued me, I don't know what would've happened..."

"Who knows?" asked Banjo with a shrug as they walked over to the bedroom. "I'm just glad you're still with me..."

Kazooie nodded, knowing that the bear was thinking about Tooty when he said that. "I'm glad I still have a friend I can rely on..."

Banjo smiled as he moved to his bed. Kazooie promptly jumped into the blue backpack she called her bed as the bear moved under the covers of his bed.

"Well, I guess we're gonna take those folders to him tomorrow," said Banjo. "Good night, Kaz."

"Night, Banjo," said the breegull.

The bear smiled as he slowly fell asleep, thinking about the breegull resting in the coatrack at the foot of the bed.


	9. Dritter Träume

Yeah. Last time was...

Okay, I'll be honest. This chapter set is mostly filler, so not a whole lot will be happening. Stay tuned for the next chapter, though, where we find out a little more about she-bear the mystery person. I promise you guys that much.

So without further ado, we enter another dream sequence!

* * *

Dritter Träume

_Banjo found himself in the uninviting room with the metal walls again. Thankfully, he was greeted by the sight of Rouge sitting in the bed, looking down at the floor with a rather shocked look on her face. The bear strode over to the bat and sat down on the bed next to her, the bat only then looking up from where she sat to see a smile on the bear's face._

_"Hey, Rouge," he said. "You look awfully down..."_

_Rouge dismissively waved as she looked away from her friend. "A teenage girl was almost killed today," she said, a slight grimace forming on her face as she said this. "If I hadn't intervened, Eggman would've killed her..."_

_Banjo's smile instantly fell upon hearing this, and then the bear scooched closer to the bat._

_"Really?" he asked. "I hope Sonic didn't catch wind of that..."_

_The bat sighed, looking at Banjo now. "Thankfully, Sonic and his friends didn't see anything about the girl," she said. "I'll be honest, I think it's a good thing; the poor girl looks like she was abused all her life."_

_Banjo nodded solemnly. "I'll bet," he said gravely as he looked away. "Abused, huh...?"_

_"Hm?" asked Rouge, her head perking up as she heard this._

_Banjo looked to his dream companion before shaking his head. "It's nothing," he replied._

_His mournful tone told otherwise, however. __The bat noticed this, and instantly she had one of her arms on Banjo's shoulders. "Oh, come on, you know I can't tell anyone," she said. "I'm a friend, you know? And besides, these people don't know who you are..."_

_Banjo sighed, looking down at the floor solemnly as he thought about this._

_"I had a younger sister," he replied. "She was the best thing that ever happened to me, you know?"_

_Rouge's eyebrow rose, partly from curiosity and party from surprise as her arm retreated away from the bear's shoulder. "You did?" she asked. "I never would've guessed."_

_"Yeah," he said. "She was kind, smart, and extremely caring. I remember how fun-loving she was too..."_

_"I see..." said Rouge, nodding in reply. "But why are you referring to her in the past tense?"_

_"Well..." continued the bear, twiddling his thumbs together as he thought about the painful memories again. "She..."_

_Rouge could tell that this was greatly disturbing Banjo, but something nagged at her to find out more._

_"Did something happen to her?" she asked quickly. "Like... did she die?"_

_The honey bear shook his head softly, and Rouge noticed his grip on the matress increasing greatly. "Worse," he replied. "She disappeared without a trace ten years ago."_

_The bat was shocked by this, topaz eyes registering pity as a gloved hand came to her mouth._

_"Oh, no..." she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm... I'm so sorry, Banjo... I mean..."_

_"Don't," said Banjo, enclosing Rouge's hand with his own and looking her straight into her eyes. "I've gotten enough of that. I know you mean well, but..."_

_The bear looked away as he released her hand, shaking his head sadly. "It's just so... hard... not to know your sister's fate."_

_"I'll say," replied Rouge as she crossed her arms in front of her. "I'm surprised you're taking it as well as you are now."_

_"Well, ten years of missing someone rubs it in a little harder than anything else," was the bear's reply. "You get used to it after a while. Plus, I've got help in trying to locate where she might have gone now..."_

_The former G.U.N. agent nodded slowly as she heard this. Deciding the conversation had become too dark, she decided to change the subject._

_"So, do you know why we're seeing each other here?" she asked._

_Banjo looked at her with a shrug. "I dunno," he replied. "Must be the emeralds."_

_"Can't be," replied the bat with a wink. "I've had friends that have had all of their adventures with these things, and never once have I ever seen them dreaming of each other. Do you have something else that's got magical properties."_

_The bear scratched his chin as he thought about Rouge's question. Finally, though, his sapphire eyes lit up as he turned to Rouge._

_"Well, yeah," he said. "Kazooie keeps a magic wrench by her at all times. And since she sleeps at the foot of my bed..."_

_The two people looked straight ahead of them before turning to each other and nodding. Rouge stood up at this point, and Banjo noticed the change in the distribution of weight on the mattress as she began pacing around the room._

_"That would make sense," she said as she rubbed her own chin. "Except, I don't think it's enough with just five of the Chaos Emeralds and your wrench to do anything. So there must be something else..."_

_Banjo remembered the files he had looked at with Kazooie during the day, and then he remembered the large green jewel that one Knuckles the Echidna was supposed to be guarding. Thinking of this, he raised one of his fingers in the air. "Could it be the Master Emerald?" he asked._

_The agent turned around mid-step, looking at Banjo with a look of disbelief in her eyes. "How did you know about that?" asked Rouge._

_"Well, my friend that knows everything?" asked the bear. "He knew lots of things about you and your friends, so I asked him."_

Hm..._ thought the bat as she rubbed her chin. "And how would this friend know so much about us, hm?"_

_"It would take me forever to explain," replied Banjo. "I'll tell you some other time. So then, back to the Master Emerald..."_

_"But that's strange," replied the bat as she moved over to Banjo and sat back down on the bed. "Because the island it's situated on..."_

_She paused suddenly in her speech, her eyes widening in shock._

_"Rouge?" asked Banjo, concerned for the bat as he turned to face her._

_"I... This can't be good," she said finally. "It could mean a few things. It could mean that the Master Emerald could be way too close to one of us... or..."_

_"That it's the link that serves as our... well... dreams?" asked Banjo with a shrug. "And that it's somewhere in the middle?"_

_Rouge nodded. "I don't know at this point," she said. "Whatever the case, I'm not saying anything to Eggman!"_

_The bear winked at this. "I think that's as good an idea as any," he said, standing up so he was next to the bat. "Even with that IQ of his he can't see this happening, so maybe this will be our hope..."_

_Rouge shrugged at this, sifting a hand through her fur to get her white bangs out of her face as she looked at Banjo. "You know, Banjo, I'm actually kind of curious," said the bat softly. "That witch... Grunty? What did she have to her credit?"_

_The bear chuckled softly as he draped an arm over her shoulders. "Well, she had a bunch of machines that were always easy to work with," replied the bear. "She also had magic on her side, and..."_

_Rouge suddenly gave a confused glance at Banjo's snort at the end of his sentence, and suddenly he noticed the furry hand that was over his muzzle that was trying to hold in a chuckle._

_"What, is it something like horrible rhymes or something?" she asked._

_"Oh, yes," replied the bear, chuckling a little more than before. "They were pretty bad..."_

_Rouge rolled her eyes, wondering what Banjo saw as a bad rhyme. With a brief flash in her eye, she decided she'd try and emulate the evil witch that Banjo was always fighting._

_"Was it something so bad as what I say now, or was it worse than that when you know how?" asked the bat, rhyming intentionally._

_In reply, the bear simply gave the bat an empty stare, surprised at how she had nailed it on the head despite never having met the evil witch in the first place. Rouge looked down at the ground, and when she looked up a nervous smile played on her lips as she awaited Banjo's answer._

_"You got it," he said, flabberghasted at what he had heard. "Now do that for every sentence you speak and you've got it down.'_

_"_Every sentence_?" she cried in disbelief. "She did that every single sentence she spoke?"_

_Banjo shrugged at this. "Pretty much," he said. "There was one time where her sisters forced her to stop, but other than that it's always been one bad rhyme after another..."_

_"Oh, my..." said Rouge, sitting down on the desk that they had conversed by the night before. "Actually, you probably know about all of my adventures now, right?"_

_Banjo had to calm down enough to answer with a slight nod, hoping that Rouge would get it before his unoccupied hand came to his stomach._

_"Well, you think you could tell me about those adventures?" asked the bat, patting to a space next to her on the desk._

_"Sure," replied the bear as soon as he had managed to stop laughing his head off about Rouge guessing about the bad rhymes. Banjo then sat on the desk next to Rouge, their feet dangling over the metallic floor._

_It was then that the bear began speaking about his many adventures across the Isle 'o Hags, from when Tooty had been kidnapped by Grunty through the witch's two attempts at revenge to the events that had taken place at Showdown Town. Rouge seemed quite interested in Banjo's life before she had met him, and as the narraration went on Banjo could feel Rouge's gloved hand laying over his own. In reply, he simply blushed and continued his story, straight through until the end of the dream._

* * *

Banjo woke up that morning feeling extremely gratified. The sun was up, and somehow he had managed to wake up at exactly the same time that Kazooie did.

"Broo..." Kazooie cooed as she woke up. "Morning, Banjo."

"Morning, Kaz," replid Banjo similarly. "I saw Rouge in my dream again..."

"Yep?" asked the breegull. "I hope that went well."

"It did," he replied, jumping out of bed. "What do you say to some breakfast?"

Kazooie nodded sleepily as Banjo slung the signature blue backpack over his shoulders. "Sure," she said.

"Then let's get moving!" replied Banjo, walking over to the kitchen as he exclaimed this.


	10. Rouge: Chapter 3

And tensions start to build here. Let's get the next chapter started, shall we?

Yeah, this won't be filler so much as it will be setting up a few questions for the next dream sequence. And if you haven't started piecing things together by now, well, things will become apparent in the next set of chapters. Enjoy!

* * *

Rouge: Chapter 3

When the bat had woken up, she spent a good ten minutes looking down at her charge in a strange mixture of awe and confusion. The bat really hadn't had time to prepare for the extra person in her room, so she had offered the bear a comfortable spot in her bed next to her, where both women managed to sleep rather soundly.

The instant Rouge looked at the young bear when she woke up, she realized that the she-bear bore an uncanny resemblance to Banjo. Before she had gone to bed, the thought hadn't crossed her mind. But now that she was able to see the she-bear immediately after seeing Banjo... She couldn't help but think that perhaps this broken figure was the honey bear's long lost sister. Everything screamed it clearly to Rouge; the facial structure, the eyes that she suddenly found in her memory...

The bat was almost certain that even if they were not brother and sister, Banjo and her charge were definitely related.

However, Rouge decided she would not probe into the she-bear's past until she consulted with Banjo that night. She didn't want to upset the poor bear before she was certain, and she didn't even get to know whether Banjo's sister had blonde hair or not. But the nagging doubt in Rouge's mind was that this bear she had saved the day before was definitely related to Banjo.

Her thoughts were interrupted when her charge stirred in the bed next to her, slowly sitting up and looking up at Rouge.

"Good morning," said Rouge tenderly as the she-bear sat up in bed. "How was your sleep?"

The bear simply did nothing, instead turning to Rouge with as worried an expression as she could do with pain-filled eyes.

"We... We didn't do... anything... sexual... did--?"

"Sexual?" cried Rouge, jumping out of the bed in disgust as the covers subsequently went flying away from the bed. "Sexual? First of all, I don't lean that way, second of all, I'd be a horrible guardian if I did that, and even if I wanted to, you almost died yesterday! Where the hell did you get that idea from?"

The instant she stopped her rant, Rouge covered her mouth, realizing how offensively her charge could take what she just said. Her eyes widened in horror as she gazed at the bear.

Instead of storming out of the room as Rouge had expected, however, the bear simply smiled. It was a very disturbing smile what with how crooked her teeth were, but Rouge saw the intent behind it. She instantly sighed in relief.

"You're not... any worse than some... I've known," replied the bear as Rouge sat back down in the bed. "I've met many... people..."

"I'm sorry," replied Rouge, bowing her head down. "I shouldn't have brought it up..."

The bear shook her head. "You're the best... guardian I've ever had..." she said.

"Because we just slept?" asked the bat, looking towards the bear. "And did nothing else?"

"Yes," replied the abused woman. "I wish everybody had done that..."

Rouge nodded, understanding in an instant. She was not going to press anything about the past, mostly because she didn't want to rush anything and she didn't want to ask anything until she had asked Banjo what his sister had looked like.

"What would you say to a nice, warm bath?" asked the bat, trying to lift the mood a little bit.

The bear gave a confused glance, almost as if she had forgotten the meaning of the term 'bath'. But then, her dull blue-gray eyes lit up and she nodded.

"Please..." she said.

The bat then stood up and pulled the covers back onto the bed before beckoning to the teenage girl.

"Come with me then," said Rouge.

The she-bear stood up. Rouge gingerly took the bear by the wrist and grabbing a towel from one of the drawers in her desk. The two of them were then seen walking down the corridor to the only showers that Robotnik had cared to install in the entire base, and unfortunately for Rouge she had to pass the prisoners' room to access the baths. She thankfully was able to go by without too much trouble, but she knew that the second time she passed there Sonic would give her a great amount of grief.

For then, though, the bat and the bear were able to go by without any troubles. Rouge was hoping more than anything that this bath would help her sort things out in her mind, and in addition it would get the grime out of her charge's body.

Rouge was the first one to get out of the shower. Her charge was still busy trying to wash all of the grime that had accumulated over the years, even as Rouge had gotten fully dressed. Now, the bat locked the door behind her as she left; Rouge had told her charge not to panic if she couldn't open the door and that she would come later to get her out if she couldn't. Rouge knew that with Eggman acting the way he was, she couldn't afford to keep an eye off of her or an unlocked door between the bear and a robot when she was not around. Rouge also did not want the she-bear to get involved with where she had been going at the moment, as she knew plenty of nastiness would occur.

Thus, she entered the chamber where Sonic, Amy, and Cream were being held captive, straightening her bangs as she did.

"Ms. Rouge, what happened?" Instead of the blue hedgehog yelling at Rouge, though, she was greeted with an inquisitive tone by the little rabbit girl.

It was a jilting surprise, but it was not a completely unwelcome surprise. The bat was actually just a little relieved that Sonic was not the first one to speak when she entered the room. She was slightly alarmed by the fact that Sonic was pinching his skin with his still gloved hands and that he looked like he was biting his bottom lip, but nevertheless she was grateful for the respite from the hateful yelling.

"Well, when I went to talk to Eggman yesterday, he was... well, you know, being secretive," replied the bat. She heard an audible groan come from Sonic, and she noticed the slightest twitch that showed the hedgehog was pinching himself harder than when she entered the room. "So, I told him I would steal the Chaos Emeralds if he didn't tell me what was going on."

The force of Sonic's pinch lowered itself significantly, and then he raised his arm up in the air.

"I knew it!" he cried, pointing at Rouge, his smile both accusing and gleeful at the same time. "You were gonna--!"

"Shh!" cautioned Amy, her finger going to his mouth.

Rouge shrugged at this as she advanced close enough to be able to whisper audibly to the hedgehog so that he could hear it but the security microphones that were in the room couldn't. "Yeah, blue, I'd rather not have my cover blown right now," she whispered. "I mean, he's got the tools to throw me in with you guys. And since I fell out of his best favors yesterday I don't want to risk a whole lot. Especially since some things have happened that could make me your only ticket out of here."

Sonic blinked in surprise at this, but by the way he clenched his fist Rouge could tell he was getting ready to launch a barricade of hate upon her. His surprise slowly turned into anger, and he growled in a way that slowly intensified.

"And don't you think for one second that I'm being prideful here!" she cried, effectively silencing the blue hedgehog as he resumed his expression of surprise. "I saved a teenager's life yesterday thanks to you three pointing that thing out!"

Sonic blinked in surprise, and Amy and Cream were both somewhat speechless. Rouge had a feeling that the male hedgehog had calmed down by this point, and as his expression softened the bat could not help but think this was the case. Amy, however, was not convinced, and something in her emerald eyes told Rouge this quite readily.

"Well, then, where is she?" asked the rose-tinted hedgehog as she put her hands on her hips.

Rouge nodded, looking out to the doorway to make sure that the robots weren't watching before advancing to the door. "I'll be right back," she said. "And Sonic, if you yell at me while she's in here, so help me Chaos I'm gonna increase the voltage on your bars!"

Before Sonic could reply, Rouge was out of the room. Quickly, she moved towards the bathroom that the two women had used that morning. She quickly unlocked the door and went inside to see the she-bear dressing herself. Rouge noticed that the blonde hair on her head was actually rather good-looking when cleaned of most of the grime.

"I couldn't get it all out..." said the bear, pointing to a spot of grime in her hair.

"That's fine," replied Rouge, patting the bear on the back as they walked out of the bathroom. "We'll get it in another session. Listen, I've got some... people I want you to meet. Okay?"

The bear stopped in her tracks, causing Rouge to stop as well. When Rouge noticed the look of fear in the bear's dull blue eyes, she put on a tender smile.

"Don't worry," she said. "They're behind bars, they can't hurt you. Even if they weren't, I know them, and they wouldn't dare touch you until they got to know you. I'll also be right next to you the entire time. So if you get afraid, just stay close and I'll make you comfortable, all right?"

Rouge had a feeling this would not be enough to assuage the bear's fears. The only action she saw from her charge was that she gulped in fear of what would happen next. But when the teenager nodded to her caretaker, Rouge realized something that hadn't been there before.

"All right..." replied the bear. "I'll trust you..."

The bat smile as she led them to the room where her three friends were being held captive. "Okay," she said.

And then the two of them entered the room, Sonic having shifted positions while Rouge had left. Upon the bat's reentry, the hedgehog suddenly leaned forward on his hands and knees before Amy or Cream could point out the presence of the two of them in the room. There was a rather tense silence filling the air as the cobalt rodent looked at the ear intently. Rouge dared not say anything lest Sonic yell at her, and Amy and Cream dared not say anything out of fear of angering the hedgehog. Rouge also knew that Sonic might take it as a fabrication, but given that Robotnik, Tails, Rouge, her charge, and the three captives were the only organic people in the entire base meant that she also knew the blue hedgehog might consider that to be the case.

"Wow, you weren't kidding!" exclaimed Sonic, finally breaking the silence. "I thought I saw those bots take her around, but damn, I didn't think they were gonna try and kill her!"

"I didn't even know she existed until Eggman thrust me on her," replied Rouge with a shrug. "But now that she's here, I'm just glad she's still alive."

"Ms. Rouge?" asked Cream, pointing at the spot of grime in the bear's blonde hair. "I don't know if you noticed, but--"

"Oh, trust me, I noticed," cut in Rouge, knowing that Cream was alluding to the grime that still clung to the bear's fur.

"You should've... seen me yesterday..." added the bear timidly. "I... I was much worse then..."

Amy's right eyebrow arched up at this. "Wow, you were beat up worse than that?" asked the pink hedgehog, now on her knees right next to where Sonic was. "I can't see that!"

Rouge shrugged in reply before Sonic added, "You weren't held by Eggman for all this time, were you?"

"N... no..." replied the bear, sniffling slightly as she looked at the ground. "I... I can't..."

While Sonic may have been very impatient, he knew when he had crossed his bounds, and so he recoiled in his cage, hugging his knees as his expression softened.

"Damn it, I shouldn't have asked that," he said. "I'm sorry."

"Well, it's not like you pressed it, so it's not that big a deal," replied Rouge as the bear looked back up, some water lighting up the younger woman's dull blue-grey eyes.

"No..." replied the girl with a shrug. "I've been with... others..."

Amy's eyebrow rose in curiosity. "Others? As in, crueler people?"

"Yes..." replied the bear.

Sonic shook his head sadly. "Ouch. I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be..." replied the girl softly. "I don't... I don't... What's the word...?"

Cream, who was kneeling as the bear said this, stood up slightly, fighting the urge to put her hands on the bars. "You don't deserve it?"

The bear nodded softly. At this, everybody visibly stiffened visibly, even Rouge, who was standing close by the bear. Amy shook her head at this, thinking that this was not right for the bear to be thinking of herself so lowly. She suddenly launched herself at the bars, but Sonic ended up having to restrain her to keep her from touching the bars.

"Don't be silly!" she cried. "You're a person! You ever tell your family if you don't deserve the apologies?"

"Damn it Amy, don't aggravate her more than you have to!" cried Rouge.

The bear shook her head sadly at this, and then she uttered a few words that everybody in the room would dread.

"Family...?" she asked. "I don't know... I don't know who they are anymore..."

"What?" cried Sonic, almost losing his grip on Amy in his shock. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I think... I think I had one once..." she said. "I don't know anymore... I don't know if they're alive... if they're dead... but I don't know my own family anymore..."

The bear almost broke down crying right here, and Rouge looked about ready to jump to the poor bear's side. However, the bear simply shook her head, denying herself the comfort of tears in front of everybody in the room. She simply knelt on the ground, shaking the tears away with a look of determination.

Damn, thought Rouge. I didn't think she was this strong. I've gotta give her a little more credit after this.

"That's... That's terrible!" exclaimed Sonic.

"It is!" said Amy. "We'll help you find your family!"

"What, stuck behind bars like that?" pointed out Rouge. "No offense, but I'm the only one here who can find her folks."

"Well, then, you start looking!" cried Amy. "Why haven't you done that yet?"

"Are you kidding?" replied the bat angrily. "I only became her guardian yesterday, I might remind you!"

The pink hedgehog would've retorted when Sonic suddenly patted her on the arm. He then pointed to the bear, who looked like she was ready to burst into tears. Noticing this, the pink hedgehog retreated into the cell, looking deeply apologetic.

"I'm sorry," replied Amy softly. "But I don't care what she says, we're gonna help find your family. What's your name?"

Rouge visibly stiffened at this. She had somehow managed to blackmail Robotnik, keep the girl from wondering into the sights of a few robots alone, and she was able to piece together that her charge and Banjo had some sort of connection, but it was not until Amy asked that Rouge realized she never explicitly asked for a name.

"I..." replied the bear slowly. "I... don't know... I don't remember that... either..."

At this, everybody in the room was leaning towards the bear. Sonic looked like he was going to ask the girl something, but then he thought better of it as he looked down at the floor of his cage.

"You... don't know?" asked Amy. "Why?"

The little bear shook her head, sitting on the ground as she thought.

"I..." she began, nervously, her eyes darting around the room. "I've been in... so much pain... for too many years... I don't know who I am anymore... And... It scares me... I don't know why... but it does..."

It was around this point that the first tears came and the bear hid in her own paws, sobbing her heart out. Rouge and Sonic both glared at Amy, Rouge heatedly and Sonic reprimandingly, and then the bat walked over to the bear and offered her shoulder for the bear to cry on. The young teenager took this almost too gladly, hugging the bat hard as she cried. Cream just sat in her cage, looking on the scene with a strange kind of sadness. The blue hedgehog's expression softened when she looked at the bat and the bear down on the floor.

However, Sonic was not ready to admit defeat to Rouge. The bat knew this just as well as anybody else. What happened to Tails was definitely something that should have been avoided, and she knew that the blue hedgehog was nowhere near done with reminding her of that yet. For the time being though, Sonic's emerald eyes looked at her in a more pitifying light than an accusing one.

Slowly, the bat carried the sobbing teenage bear out of the prisoners' room, with Sonic's gaze lingering on her for quite a while. Nobody really said anything for a while before finally Sonic spoke up.

"Y'know, Amy?" he asked. "I figured something was up with Rouge. I didn't think she'd save a girl, though..."

"Are you sure she didn't make it up?" asked Cream.

Sonic looked over to the little rabbit girl, shaking his head. "Well, Tails, Rouge, that bear, Eggman, and the three of us are the only real things in here that aren't made of metal," he said. "So it's kind of hard to make that stuff up, you know?"

"And how do you know that?" she asked.

Sonic shrugged. "Past events," he said. "It's always been his tendency to fill his bases with robots and nothing else."

The pink-tinted hedgehog nodded at this. "My question is, who is she, and what happened to her?" she asked. "I mean, that's pretty extreme to not remember your own name, you know?"

"Extreme?" replied Cream from her cell. "Extreme is an understatement, Amy!"

Sonic nodded solemnly. "But that won't be enough for me," he said. "It'll take more than saving some little kid's life and being in it for yourself to convince me to like her. Besides, I can't believe she thinks she'd be able to get us out of here!"

The rose-colored hedgehog next to him patted the blue blur's shoulder passively. "Well, you never know..." said Amy. "We'll see where she goes from here."

Sonic only hoped that Amy was right about the former G.U.N. agent, and so he looked at the TV screen where he saw Tails slashing targets with a very sharp katana much in the same fashion as the day before. As he saw this, Amy turned to the blue blur, a pensive look on her face.

"You know, Sonic, you've been really nice to me lately..." she said. "When the Nocturnus came... when we went to the Twilight Cage... When we came back... When Eggman caught us..."

Sonic nodded to this, patting his companion's shoulder softly. "I... I don't know how to put it..." he began. "But... well..."

Amy looked intently into her friend's green eyes as they closed behind cobalt eyelids. The male hedgehog rubbed one of his ears softly, a slight blush forming on his cheeks.

"It's because you really do care about me, isn't it?" asked Amy softly.

"Yeah," he said. "I wasn't kidding about what I said in the Twilight Cage. I just... You've been so great to me these past three days."

"Aw, Sonic!"

Before the blue hedgehog could reply, Amy had glomped Sonic, his head nearly making contact with the bars as he was tightly hugged. At first very surprised, Cream suddenly noticed a smile come to Sonic's mouth as he returned the pink hedgehog's embrace.

Rouge, listening in from the safety of a security station that Robotnik had set up across the hall from where the prisoners were. There were no TV screens erected for some reason (all of the cameras were wired Her charge had also listened intently, wiping the tears that had stopped coming a few seconds ago. Even though Rouge couldn't see what had happened, she could figure out what had happened, so she smiled lightly.

"You see?" asked the bat as she came away from the wall. "They're not bad people at all."

"I see..." said the bear softly. "Uh... Mama Rouge...?"

Rouge rolled her eyes at this brief moment of feeling rather old. "Yes?" she asked.

"You... Why are they there, then?" asked the girl innocently. "You said... they didn't do anything wrong..."

Rouge nodded as she looked to around where Tails' larger cell was. "Well, some people will do anything to get what they want. And the person holding them wants to take over the world."

The bear nodded, still thinking about how it was wrong that they were imprisoned. "But why... Why is he so... bad...?"

The bat shook her head at this, looking at her directly in the eyes as she spoke her next words. "Trust me, I think it's bad, too," she said. "But I think his point of view is that after so many attempts to conquer the world, he wants this one to go without a hitch. He's just..." Here Rouge took a rather lengthy pause, trying to find exactly the right word that would suit the state of Robotnik without really offending him. Finally, she sighed. "I think you know what I'm trying to get at here."

The bear nodded slowly at this before looking at the door. "I want... I want to go back... to the room..."

"Sure," she said, taking the girl by the hand and leading her out of the security station. As they passed a few robots moving about she slowly wondered what Banjo would say when he found out about the fact that his sister was possibly under her protection.


	11. Banjo: Chapter 4

Okay, so filler chapters done. From this point on, we get a lot of tension! So here we go into Banjo's next chapter!

* * *

Banjo: Chapter 4

Another one hundred laps had gone by that morning, and bear and bird were a little more fit than the day before. Banjo was feeling just a little more than invigorated by what he and Kazooie had learned about the world of Sonic the Hedgehog the day before. It was unusual, to be sure, but at the same time Banjo felt there was no other way he would want to feel about the day before.

Kazooie's set of laps seemed to go by far, far too short, and when Banjo found himself in control of his feet again he sighed. When the breegull noticed this, she leaned in closer to Banjo's head.

"What, afraid of giving those files back to Pong face?" asked Kazooie teasingly.

"Kinda," was the bear's reply. "I just want to hold on to that picture of Rouge…"

"Well, Banjo, we've gotta return those files soon," she said. "Especially seeing as how we're done with them. I don't know what you see in heart chest that's so important other than that you're seeing her in your dreams, anyways."

Banjo scratched the back of his head nervously. "I think she's hot…?"

The bird was stock still for a brief second, silence pervading Spiral Mountain. Kazooie then reeled back, trying her best to stifle a laugh. Banjo blushed slightly as he saw this, the red showing through his brown fur as Kazooie tried even harder not to laugh.

"Hm, looks like somebody's in love here!" teased the bird.

"W-what?" cried Banjo, turning his head to Kazooie, the blush on his cheeks only intensifying. "I don't think about her like that! I think she's hot, but I don't feel it like that!"

Kazooie shook her head at Banjo's torment. "Banjo, Banjo, Banjo," she said, patting his head with her wing. "That's what most would call denial. Now move your behind before I taunt you more with it!"

The bear could not think of a better way to get him moving. He then ran back to his house, firstly to avoid the bird's taunting, and second to keep her from noticing his blush that intensified ever so quickly.

* * *

Banjo opted to ease the cart with the files down; he knew as well as anybody that the combined weight of him and Kazooie riding on a cart down the slope into Showdown Town would result in a crash that was much worse than what he did to T.T. the other day. This ended up going badly, though; it turned out that easing a cart down was much more difficult to do in the talon trot than either of them thought. This was evidenced when their cart rushed down the slope without them, almost hitting several people before being stopped by one of the walls of Mumbo Jumbo's warehouse.

"Crap!" cried Kazooie, rushing for the files at a ridiculously fast speed down the rest of the slope. As they approached the cart, the breegull had barely retreated into the blue rucksack when Mumbo's garage door opened, and a mysterious pink man with a skull on his head peered out.

"Who make loud bang sound?" he asked as Banjo found himself on his feet again.

"Sorry, Mumbo!" exclaimed Banjo, taking his cart back. "Wheeling carts down that slope was harder than it looked!"

"It all right," replied the pink man as he tugged on his overalls. "Bear and bird always welcome here."

"We almost trashed your house, hut boy!" exclaimed Kazooie. "What would you have done then?"

"Not so hard to build house back up again," replied Mumbo as he pointed at Banjo. "You have strong magic object that Mumbo use to build house back up again."

"Oh, this?" asked Banjo, removing his Chaos Emerald from his pocket. "I found this three days ago. It's supposed to be a Chaos Emerald or something. Apparently, they have the power to do anything. And before you ask, no, you can't borrow it."

This bout of snarkiness surprised Kazooie a bit, but she didn't have time to expound on it before the conversation continued.

"Mumbo very curious," said the shaman as he leaned in close. "What bear need from strange jewel?"

"It's a long story," said Banjo. "And I'm kind of short on time. Do you know if Mr. L.O.G. is in his factory?"

The shaman nodded briefly. "Mumbo think so. I don't know, though."

"Well, he's probably in there anyway," said Banjo with a shrug. "But it's nice to have someone else speaking for him."

"How did you know we had that thing anyway, skull face?" asked Kazooie as she folded her wings on top of Banjo's head. "I didn't think you still could detect magical things without seeing them!"

"Bird be right," replied the shaman as he crossed his arms in front of him. "But Humba also say something to Mumbo."

At this, both bear and bird gave very confused looks to Mumbo. They had to look at each other first before looking back to the witch doctor with disbelieving eyes.

"What?" they asked at exactly the same time, Banjo leaning in and Kazooie craning her neck.

"What?" asked Mumbo with a shrug. "Humba and Mumbo rivarly in past. Now we friends."

Kazooie's eyebrow raised up, her wings going to her hips as she grumbled. "And you didn't say anything about this earlier because...?"

"Bear and bird no ask," was the shaman's reply.

Banjo and Kazooie both looked to each other, wondering what Mumbo was getting on about, before they both shrugged simultaneously and looked at Mumbo.

"Well, that's... Uh..." Banjo said, not quite sure how to reply to that as he scratched the back of his head.

"Good... I guess..." said Kazooie, who had also been rendered slightly speechless by the mechanic's words. "I dunno. Anyways, we should probably get going."

Banjo, taking a cue, went over to the cart that had all of L.O.G.'s files in the and nodded to Mumbo. "I guess we'll see you later then," he said. "Sorry about the house!"

"Bear and bird no worry!" exclaimed the shaman as he waved to the figure of Banjo carting the folders away. Kazooie looked back at him from her perch in Banjo's backpack, slightly unamused as she saw the fuchsia man waving at the two of them in farewell.

* * *

"Damn it, Kenzo, for the last time, M. Bison does not do a Hadouken! Yes, yes, I know you're under a lot of pressure here, but the market won't respond well when they find out that the villain of the Street Fighter series has somehow learned a technique that exactly four people in the entire franchise know how to do! What? Yes, I know I'm stressed here, but I'm not telling you why. Now tell the programmers that I will not allow M. Bison to somehow learn how to do a Hadouken under any circumstances. Well, if you want him to do a projectile attack, have him steal from Guile!"

The phone promptly slammed down on the reciever, the L.O.G. letting out an angry sigh as he thought about his day. His day had not gone well; he arrived late to his office, Gruntilda Winkybunion almost caused enough havoc to escape the night before, Grace quit her job in an angry rage, and his pet mice almost spilled his coffee right before--

"Oh, shut up!" cried the L.O.G., looking up. "You know as well as I do that I can't drink coffee!"

Hey, if it's good for the flow of the story, I'll do it. And it also works because it puts the 'and' in a more suitable place. Just be thankful I'm not painting a last supper with 28 disciples and 3 Christs.

"Just go back to narrarating the story," replied the computer before looking in front of him again.

So naturally the L.O.G. was very angry. He just hoped that Banjo and Kazooie wouldn't come in to return the files, because then he'd have to deliver some grave news.

And unfortunately for him, the buzzer on his desk rang, and he pressed the button.

"Yes, Andy?" asked the omnipotent computer into the microphone.

"Uh, yes sir," replied the new secretary nervously. "You have a Banjo and Kazooie to see you, sir."

The L.O.G. groaned in sheer frustration at this before depressing the button with his mind.

"Send them up," he sighed, really wishing that his pet mice would stop scurrying around frantically on his head.

It was only a few minutes before he heard a signature knock at his door.

"Come in..." replied the computer, his rage still simmering down ever so slowly.

The door opened, and bear and bird paraded into his office carting the files he had lent them into view.

"Here are your files, Mr. L.O.G.!" said Banjo cheerfully.

"Ah, thanks," he said, his voice drooping slightly as he teleported in front of the cart and began putting all of the manila folders back in their places.

His tone of voice did not escape bear or bird, though, and Banjo leaned over with a look on his face signalling slight confusion.

"Mr. L.O.G.?" asked the bear worriedly. "Is everything all right?"

The computer sighed softly, pausing in his reorganization of the folders before teleporting in front of the honey bear, shaking his head softly.

"What is it, computer head?" asked Kazooie, trying to spur the computer on.

"It's about Tooty," replied the computer slowly.

Banjo gasped at this, and quickly he grabbed the edges of the L.O.G.'s long royal cape and knelt down. Sapphire orbs shone in great anticipation as he looked up to the Pong game that was eternally frozen on the computer's face.

"Oh my God!" he said. "What about her?"

"You're not going to like it..." replied the computer solemnly as he teleported out of Banjo's hands.

"It can't be any worse than years of not knowing her fate, Pong face," replied the breegull flatly as she crossed her wings in front of her.

The lord sighed before floating in front of his desk. He looked down at the kneeling bear, monitor seeming to have lost some of its brightness.

"That's... kind of the problem," he replied. "I've had agents check the entire world, and so far only one has returned. He told me that all of the other agents didn't pick up their transmissions, so he ended up scouring the world for her by himself."

"And what did he get?" asked Banjo eagerly as he knelt at the game master's desk.

The L.O.G. sighed again before looking directly into Banjo's indigo eyes. "He wasn't able to find her," he said. "I would've expected something like that if all the rest of my agents went missing in action. But he says he found... this..."

And at this point, a torn crimson shirt with a bloodied yellow star levitated into view. Recognizing the object almost instantly, Banjo grabbed the shirt from the air, inspecting the many tears in the fabric and the dirt that was nestled in some pieces in disbelief. He also felt the incredibly hard feel of... some strange kind of clear stain in the shirt. He looked up, hoping his fears were not correct.

"Where...?" asked Banjo, voice shaking as his eyes burned holes into the L.O.G. "Where did he...? This was her shirt! Where did he find this?"

"The other side of the world," was the computer's reply. "It was put in a landfill around five years ago. He says the shirt was already half rotting when he got to it."

"And what the hell is this wierd... stain thing?" asked Kazooie, jade eyes hardening themselves as she steeled herself for the reply.

"Kazooie..." began the Lord of Games, looking at the shirt with a strange hint of sadness glinting from the monitor's screen. "The agent thinks Tooty might have been raped over and over again by many different men."

Banjo's eye's widened, tears threatening to slip out as he heard this. "Raped?" he asked disbelievingly. "W... what makes you so sure? How are you so sure? How do you know that she was raped? How?"

The computer shook his head sadly. "That stain... that clear stain is semen. My agent says there was no other stain like it in the immediate area around. And plus... it was torn. Rapists tear clothes if they cut their victims... And plus, he found DNA in the stain, so it had to come from something. When my agent pulled a quick DNA test, most of what was left from all those years of decay showed the marks of at least five or six different people. Banjo, I don't know what the ultimate fate of your sister is. But whatever happened to her... It must have been... I just hope... I..."

Here, the L.O.G. stopped speaking, his pong game moving for the first time so that both of the 'paddles' folded into view and were invisible as he slowly floated to behind his desk solemnly. Even Kazooie was left speechless, the breegull stock still with her verdant eyes widened in shock. She could not even fathom what the computer had just said, and even as she processed the information in her head she still found a hard time believing it.

But nothing computer or bird were able to feel could even compete with the swirl of emotions that Banjo was experiencing. There were so many questions that popped up in his mind and were promptly swept away. His gaze was fixed on the ripped shirt of his sister. He still did not know her ultimate fate, but suddenly the bear wished he had never asked about what had happened in the middle.

A single tear travelled down his face as he asked one final question.

"And... And why wasn't there any body there?" he asked, closing his eyes as he held the shirt in front of him like an offering to a god.

"People don't throw bodies in the trash..." said the game master. "I don't know... But... I don't have enough words to express how terribly this pains me..."

Kazooie was so shocked by the events she could barely even bring herself to say a sarcastic comment to that. "My god..." she said. "Why--?"

Just before the breegull could bring any words to her mouth, Banjo hugged the torn shirt that belonged to his sister and sobbed profusely into it. Without another word, he stood up and bolted out of the office, narrowly knocking the cart with the manila folders as he ran out of the office in tears.

The L.O.G. was speechless, and he looked down at his desk dejectedly.

* * *

Banjo was later seen crying by the Jiggoseum. Even the bright colors of the Jiggoseum were nowhere near enough to lift the bear's spirits up as he clucked at the red shirt that used to belong to his sister. Kazooie was not about to talk to Banjo; she knew that they had been best friends, but she also knew that anything she would say would most likely be taken the wrong way. So she just wrapped her wings around his shoulders, having stepped out of the blue rucksack right when they got to the Jiggoseum. Thankfully, nobody had really talked to them.

Kazooie looked up every so often to find nobody approaching them, and honestly, she felt this was best for the honey bear she cared so much for. She just let the bear cry everything out, and hopefully this would be enough for them. The bear was still sobbing even an hour after he had heard of what had happened to Tooty, and Kazooi could only begin to imagine how he felt.

When she looked up one time, however, she found a mole with goggles on his head looking at Banjo. Slowly, he strode forward, orange checker jacket providing a stark contrast to the color at the Jiggoseum.

"Goodness!" exclaimed the mole. "Kazooie, Banjo, what happened?"

Kazooie shook her head, Banjo making no move towards the mole. "Bug off, goggle boy!" she hurled insultingly. "It's something you wouldn't want to know about!"

"What, something like a scraped knee?" asked the mole. "I can take care of that, you know. It's nothing--"

"Shut up, Bottles!" said the bear, flinging the torn shirt at the nicely dressed mole as he cried into his paw. "Just... leave us alone..."

The mole instead examined the torn shirt recognizing every detail even as it was erased. He then looked back at Banjo and Kazooie with a disbelieving look on his face.

"No..." he said in awe. "This didn't... It..."

Kazooie shook her head. "Pong face gave us that," said the breegull with a greater deal of solemnity in her voice than the mole was accustomed to, even when Kazooie was being nice to him. "He said that that's what turned up in one of his agents searches. Bottles, Tooty was raped."

The mole known as Bottles simply shook his head sadly, walking over to the bear and bird duo and putting the shirt back in the honey bear's lap before putting his hands on Banjo's shoulders.

"I'm so sorry..." he said softly. "I... I don't know what to say..."

Banjo shook his head sadly, and for the first time in quite some time he opened his eyes. Bottles and Kazooie were both surprised at how bloodshot they were from the sheer amount of tears the bear had shed.

"Why...?" he asked, his tone of voice emanating a strange kind of sadness alien even to himself. "Why did she have to be raped? She was the sweetest, most innocent thing in the world! She didn't deserve that kind of treatment! Why? Why would anybody do that to her? Why would anybody let them get away with this? Why...? Why Tooty?"

The honey bear shook his head, resting his elbows on his knees as Bottles looked Banjo straight in the eye.

"I can't tell you that," he said simply. "Actually, nobody can. It's not anybody's fault that those people did the things they did. It could've happened to anybody."

"Yeah, but why Tooty?" asked Banjo sadly, slightly aggravated by what Bottles was saying. "I don't care about why they would do it to anybody else. Damn it, Bottles, he said that it was left in a landfill for five years! She would've been fourteen back then!"

Bottles simply shook his head.

"Again, nobody can tell you that," replied the mole. "Hell, if I knew, I would've stopped crime a long time ago. But the thing we should ask ourselves is, what now? Maybe she's still out there."

"And how do you know that she's still alive?" asked Banjo softly, still sobbing. Kazooie, despite being generally irritated by the mole's intrusion, decided to see if Bottles could actually make Banjo feel better.

"I don't know how to tell you that," replied the mole as he patted Banjo's shoulders. "But we can always hope that she's somewhere safe now, where somebody is watching her and helping her. There's still that. If you let go of that hope, you've got nothing left. He said he didn't know her ultimate fate, right?"

Banjo nodded, sniffling a little as he did.

"Then she might still be out there," continued the mole. "Hell, I'll bet she wishes you were by her side. Banjo, as long as you don't let that hope go, there's nothing to lose. It's hard to hear this, sure, but that's passed. Maybe Tooty has gotten over it by now. Maybe she hasn't. I don't know. But there's still hope that you have to hang on to. If not for yourself, hang onto it for her; I'm sure she'd never forgive you if you gave up what hope you had because of what happened to her. Don't give it up until you really know that she's dead. And if she is in fact dead, hold on to the hope that the worst has passed."

Banjo nodded, sniffling slightly. Almost without warning, he pulled Kazooie and Bottles close to his person, and then he spent the remainder of the time sobbing into both of their shoulders. As he did, he sniffled slightly and looked at Bottles.

"I'll try," replied the bear, eyes puffy and bloodshot from the tears. "I can't honestly say anything, but I'll try..."

The mole nodded slowly, the breegull in disbelief that his talk actually worked.

* * *

When bear and bird had returned to their house later that evening, Banjo plopped into bed immediately after taking off the blue rucksack. Kazooie could not blame the poor bear; the news that had been delivered by the Lord of Games had hit both of them very hard, especially Banjo, so for once Kazooie was not in a yelling mood.

When the bear looked to the night table, he placed the Chaos Emerald down on it. His eyes then wondered to the family portrait that had been taken the week before Tooty had dissapeared. With a strange sense of nostalgia taking over him, he picked up the portrait and looked at it in the twilight. As the happy memories of the bear's younger sister flooded back into his memory, the news of her rape came back.

And once again, he cried. This time, he cried himself to sleep, holding the portrait in his arms as Kazooie looked on from the blue rucksack.

Kazooie shook her head sadly, wondering the same thing that Banjo had wondered earlier that day. She thus kept a vigil over the bear until she herself fell asleep in the blue rucksack, a rare tear being elicited from her own emerald eyes as sleep overtook her person.


	12. Viertre Träume

Wow.

I'll be brutally honest here. Last chapter was supposed to be depressing, but damn me, I did not think that would be what actually came out. It was one of those things that once I started, I just couldn't stop, you know? I had only intended to write Banjo and L.O.G.'s conversation, but as the day wore on it wouldn't leave me alone. Honestly, the feelings I felt as I wrote it were so depressing I had to watch Monty Python sketches over and over again to keep myself in a relatively happy mood.

So, yeah. We get a few reveals in the next two chapters (although honestly, you should've seen one of these reveals coming; you'll see what I mean soon enough). So let's get going, shall we?

* * *

Viertre Träume

_Banjo was still sobbing quietly when he felt himself standing in the cold air of what he assumed to be Rouge's room._

_The bear felt a hand on his shoulder, and when he opened his eyes he found himself looking right into the now very familiar aqua eyes of Rouge._

_"Banjo?" she asked worriedly. "Are you... Did something happen?"_

_The bear nodded, not one to hide things from anybody he considered a friend._

_"It's not fair..." he said softly. "It's just not fair..."_

_"What?" asked the bat, putting another hand on his shoulder as he spoke. "What happened?"_

_The honey bear sighed softly before looking at Rouge. "I found something out about Tooty's fate today..."_

_The mention of Banjo's sister's name suddenly brought Rouge's own agenda to mind, but she decided that comforting Banjo was much more important. After all, something in her hated to see the honey bear cry, especially since he seemed like the kind that would take a lot to upset him._

_"You did?" she asked. "What?"_

_He shook his head sadly. "Oh, Rouge, it was terrible!" he said, still hugging his arms to his chest. "They said they found a shirt in a... whatever... and... they think she was... Oh..."_

_"Killed?" asked Rouge, leaning in close._

_"Worse," replied the bear. "She was... oh..." Banjo had to take a few deep breaths as he tried to regain his composure in front of the bat. When she tapped her hand on his shoulder encouragingly, he saw a sincerity in her eyes that had evaded him even when she was being completely honest with him. "She was... raped..."_

_The bat reeled back slightly, hand covering her mouth in shock._

_"Oh, Banjo, that's horrible!" she exclaimed. "That... I don't know what to say..."_

_"I really, really hope she's still alive, Rouge," said Banjo sadly as a new batch of tears worked its way down his cheeks. "I... I don't know what I would do if I found out she was raped and then killed all those years ago... I... I wouldn't be able to take it..."_

_Rouge opened her mouth to reply when she suddenly noticed that Banjo had been hugging something to his chest the entire time. Looking down, Banjo also realized that he had been hugging something to him. When he pulled his arms away, he found he was holding the family portrait of himself, Kazooie, and Tooty that he had cried himself to sleep while holding._

_"Wha...?" he asked. "I took my family por--?"_

_Before he could complete the sentence, though, Rouge tore the portrait away from Banjo's hands, looking at the image. Banjo and a red breegull that the bat assumed to be Kazooie were both standing there, giving peace signs to the camera with Banjo wearing a blue backpack in which Kazooie was perched. But it was the person who was sitting next to him that caught her attention. She was blonde, with two pigtails and a red shirt that looked uncannily similar to the one her charge wore, sans the bright yellow star that was prominent on the shirt. The complexion was far too familiar for the bat, and so her topaz eyes widened in shock._

_"Rouge?" asked Banjo._

_Slowly, Rouge turned around, looking half at the honey bear and half at his family portrait. The bear could have sworn he saw the slightest fraction of a smile on her lips._

_"Banjo..." she said. "I think..."_

_"What?" asked the bear, leaning in closer in wonder._

_"I... Wait, why am I saying think?" she asked, getting more confident. "I know it! I knew there was something!"_

_"What is it, Rouge?" asked the honey bear._

_"You two look exactly the same!" she exclaimed. "Of course! How come I didn't notice it sooner?"_

_"Rouge?" pressed the bear, very confused by what his friend was saying._

_Rouge walked straight to Banjo, standing directly in front of him._

_"Banjo... Tooty... Your sister... She's alive!"_

_The bear gave Rouge a very surprised look. "I swear, she's alive!" cried Rouge. "The teen I rescued two days ago? She looked exactly like an older version of this girl in the portrait! And... She looks so much like you! Her hair, her eyes, even her grown-up body looks like it does in this portrait! Banjo, your sister's alive, and she's safe! I--"_

_Before the bat could continue, she suddenly felt herself get pulled into what was possibly one of the tightest hugs she had ever recieved in her life. The bear hugged her so hard she actually found her struggling for breath._

_"Rouge... Oh my God..." he panted, breathlessly. "Rouge... I can't... Are you sure?"_

_The former G.U.N. agent pushed against Banjo, trying to get across that she needed air. When Banjo loosened his hold on her, she breathed in sharply, the air slightly hurting her lungs._

_"I've worked for the government for years," replied the bat. "I'm a specialist at connecting dots. And plus, bats have that kind of intuitio-oon--!"_

_Banjo's tight hug cut her off as he hugged her even harder than before._

_"Banjo... need... air..." Rouge was barely able to manage what with the tight bear hug she was in._

_The bear loosened his hold appropriately, and when he did the bat was able to hear him crying softly. However, when he let her down, she saw something as far removed from the sorrowful bear that had greeted her. His eyes shone a brilliant sapphire in the flourescent light, but when she saw the smile on Banjo's face she knew that the reason for his tears were now very different from what they were before._

_"Rouge..." he said breathlessly. "You've got no idea how happy that makes me..."_

_This comment made the bat smile herself as she held on to Banjo's hands. "Rouge..." he said softly. "Thank you... I don't... I can't..."_

_Rouge brought a gloved hand over to the bear's cheek, and with a few swift motions of her fingers she dried his tears that were matting his dark brown fur. "You don't need to," she said softly. "I just... well... I..."_

_Both of them were rendered speechless, and then they simply looked into each other's eyes. Suddenly they threw their heads back and laughed heartily about everyhing they had talked about that night. The bear suddenly noticed he was close to the desk, and so he sat on it, hs hand on his diaphram as he laughed heartily._

_"I can't believe we'd be so speechless," panted Rouge as she leaned against her knees for support._

_Banjo laughe as well, but then he suddenly stopped abruptly when he looked at the portrait in Rouge's hands. He took on a more serious facial expression as he looked at the portrait, and then he rubbed his chin._

_"Wait a minute..." he said. "How did I get that in here?"_

_Rouge suddenly stopped laughing as well, looking to the portrait._

_"Hm..." she said, rubbing her own chin as she noticed this. "Maybe you took it with you when you went to bed because you were touching it?"_

_"But that doesn't make sense!" replied the bear. "If that's true, then my bedsheets and my pillow should be here!"_

_Rouge thought about this before nodding. "I'll have to look into that..." she said. "In the meantime... I think I'll go ahead and take this portrait if you don't mind."_

_"What?" asked Banjo suddenly, his brown fur standing on end as he spoke. "Why? And how do you know you can take it?"_

_"Well, you brought it in, I'll bet one of us can take it out," she said with a shrug as he held the picture in her hand. "I'll bet it'll be sent here through the Chaos Emeralds..."_

_Rouge paused in her speech, an idea suddenly forming in her head. It was an idea so simple, and yet she knew the ramifications would be so grand even Robotnik could not fathom how great they were. The bear simply looked at her as her eyes lit up in some kind of strange epiphany._

_"Wait," she said suddenly, pointing at Banjo. "Maybe... Maybe I can take Tooty to you in our dreams and then transfer her to you then? And if it all works... you can bring her back..."_

_Banjo felt goosebumps crawling all over his skin as he heard this, and he was suddenly so happy that he could not help but tackle Rogue to the ground. The bat squirmed, but when Banjo looked up at her with a great amount of joy in his eyes she stopped._

_"Oh, please!" cried Banjo. "I just want to see my sister again, even if it's only for one night! Please try something!"_

_Rouge, feeling a strange swell in her heart, simply wrapped her own arms around Banjo's body and feeling the taut muscle underneath the brown fur. She simply smiled after seeing how happy this news made Banjo, so she nodded._

_"I'll try something," she said. "If this portrait winds up with me when I wake up, then I'll definitely try. That's assuming I can get her memory back, though."_

_Banjo's eyes lost some of their joyful lustre as he heard this, and suddenly he looked at her with a very concerned look on his face._

_"Oh, no..." he said. "Don't tell me she lost her memory..."_

_"Don't worry," replied the bat reassuringly as she hugged the bear closer to her body. "I'm sure that when she sees this portrait she'll remember who you are. And if not, well, maybe a visit to you would do something."_

_Banjo nodded in understanding before getting back on his feet. As Rouge stood up, she suddenly felt the bear take her hands in his, the brightest smile she had ever seen on anybody's face shining on his teeth right at that moment. She would have jerked away by instinct, but the fact that his lovely blue eyes were awash in happiness caused her to fight this instinct._

_"Thank you so much..." he said. "You have no idea how much this all means to me..."_

_To this, Rouge was essentially left speechless for a good amount of time. She opened her mouth, a reply hanging on her lips, but she abruptly closed it when she felt that the reply would never match up to what Banjo had been telling her essentially the entire dream. She frowned slightly, and when she felt the bear's gaze look at her with worry, she simply shook her head and replied in the simplest manner she could think of._

_"You're welcome, Banjo," she said softly._

_The both of them found that neither of them were really willing to let go of each other's hands, and as they looked intently into each other's eyes, both of them felt the strangest swelling in their hearts. However, right as Rouge felt her heartbeat rise, she simply blushed, and looked away, their hands parting as the bear did the same thing._

* * *

When the honey bear woke up that morning, the first thing he did was to look into his hands.

And just as Rouge had predicted, his family picture was no longer in his hands. To make sure it had dissapeared, he looked under the covers, on the floor, and under the bed all while keeping as quiet as he could. He looked out of the window, his eyes hazing over dreamily as he thought of everything Rouge had done and how he finally knew the ultimate fate of his sister.

"Hey, Banjo!" came Kazooie's shrill voice from the kitchen. "Wake up already!"

The bear did a double take upon realizing that the sun had risen by then. It was here that he realized that he had overslept.

He quickly jumped out of the bed, but before he dashed straight for the door he saw the Chaos Emerald on his night table, glinting in the morning sun.

Slowly, Banjo picked the jewel up, his eyes closing as he held it against him, the grey emerald contrasting sharply with his fur as he inhaled deeply. Somehow, he could feel Rouge through the emerald, and this made him feel much better than he usually did when he woke up.

He pocketed the emerald and stepped into the kitchen, a smile on his face as he thought of the events of the night before.


	13. Rouge: Chapter 4

All right. Most of the sentimental stuff has now been done and dusted! Now that we've got all ten jiggies, all five jinjos, and all 100 notes, we can conti-- wait a minute...

Oops. Sorry.

Yeah, the sentimental stuff is now pretty much done. But don't think the angst has! Now, on to actual plot!

* * *

Rouge: Chapter 4

Exactly as she predicted, Rouge was holding the portrait of Banjo and his family when she had woken up that morning. She smiled, thinking about how the girl she now knew as Tooty would react to seeing that photo.

Very sneakily and with an expertise that years as a government agent had given her, she snuck out of the bed without the she-bear noticing her movements at all. She then planted the picture in a drawer in her desk before getting back under the covers.

Rouge decided she would get Tooty on this subject after breakfast, and so she sat in bed for the morning, waiting for Tooty to rise.

Or, would have, if a blare on the intercom had not startled the bat greatly and woken the bear up instantly.

"Rouge, I think you've got something in the prisoner's room you want to see..." said Robotnik's voice over the intercom. "It's a surprise..."

The bat looked up at the intercom, first in confusion and then in disdain. The teenage bear simply looked at Rouge with a very surprised expression on her face.

"What was that...?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh, I dunno..." said Rouge, a slight scowl pervading her speech as she stepped out of the bed. "Come on. We've got business to attend to..."

The bear understood immediately, and as Rouge walked out of the room the she-bear followed closely behind.

When Rouge entered the prisoner's room, she noticed Sonic, Cream, and Amy all looking at her and the person Rouge assumed to be Tooty right when she entered. However, she was utterly shocked and surprised to see a fourth face in the same cage that Cream was in. Crimson eyes glared at her hatefully, and the bat was able to tell by the black fur the person wore that this was not going to be a good day.

"S-shadow?" she asked suddenly, rushing straight to his cage in her shock. "What... What the hell are you doing here?"

"What do you think, you backstabbing bitch?" spat the black hedgehog, the venom in his voice all too apparent to the jewel thief.

"Whoah, Shadow, be _nice_ please," retorted Amy from where she was.

Shadow's glare effectively silenced the rose-colored hedgehog. "I don't need to be nice to a backstabber," he said with biting cynicism.

"Uh... Why are you saying that about Mama Rouge?" asked the bear innocently as she came closer to Shadow's cage.

Even though the night-colored hedgehog had seen the bear, he did not think that she would actually speak up for Rouge. However, the only indication of surprise he gave was to raise one of his eyebrows for only a second before crossing his arms in front of his white chest fur. The hedgehog's visage still wore a cross expression through all of this, however.

"Uh, 'Mama' Rouge?" asked Sonic uncertainly. "Why 'Mama' Rouge?"

"I don't care, and honestly, I still wouldn't care even if you stole all the emeralds from Eggman once he got them all..." said Shadow, his frown still prominent on his face.

When he noticed the slight bit of shock that registered in Rouge's face, however, his frown softened, and then he smirked softly. This gesture confused everybody in the room, especially Rouge; she knew Shadow liked Rouge when she was crafty, but just a second ago she thought he hated his guts.

"Crafty as--"

"Oh, boy, I just remembered I have to check your voltage ratings!" shouted Rouge loudly to interrupt the black hedgehog. As soon as she had said this, she leaned in close to Shadow, whose expression turned from gleeful to unamused. "Yeah, there's audio surveillance in this room, just so you know." Her voice was barely a whisper at this point as she glanced quickly at all of the spots in which the hidden microphones were installed. "Remember that the next time you try to blow my cover."

The black hedgehog nodded softly, looking down at the bear that was by Rouge. "So who's this person?"

"Oh," replied the bear with a soft smile. "Mama Rouge... saved me... from that mean... doctor person..."

"Yeah, she was going to get killed by E... er... Robotnik two days ago," she said, indicating the TV that she new was behind her. "If Sonic, Amy, and Cream hadn't pointed his thing out, and if I hadn't talked to him about it afterward, she'd be dead right now."

"Yeah..." said Amy with a shrug. "So, why are you here right now?"

"Other than the fact that Robotnik woke me up with him blaring this over the intercom that there was something I should see in here?" asked Rouge irritably.

Amy, Cream, and Sonic all glanced at each other briefly before nodding their heads dumbly.

"I see..." said Shadow, frowning slightly. "I wish Eggman wasn't using such dirty tactics..."

Rouge shook her head and shrugged. She dared not say anything out of fear of inciting Robotnik's wrath, however, so that was all that Shadow recieved in terms of a reply.

"I just wonder if you've got some kind of back-up," she said, trying to word it in a way where her own back-up plan would not be revealed and that would keep her in Robotnik's favor. "I mean, Knuckles can't Chaos Control without your help, and even Shade's warp belt isn't powerful enough to move the island out of harm's way, so..."

Shadow's crimson eyes simply narrowed in a slight anger, however. "If you're trying to get info to stop us, I'm not giving it!" he said. "All I'll say is that you may have five emeralds now, but you'll have a hard time finding the other two."

Even if it was not the answer that Rouge would have expected, she knew it was the best she was able to get under the circumstances. Hearing this, she simply shrugged and inched closer to Shadow.

"And if that fails, I've got my own plan," she said.

The black hedgehog blinked while Cream rose one of her own eyebrows. Since Sonic and Amy were unable to hear, they simply gave each other very confused looks. Rouge then backed away from the black hedgehog and winked slightly.

"I'll leave it at that then," she said. "I'll see you guys later."

The she-bear that had watched this the whole time suddenly filed behind the bat, and the two of them left the prisoner's room, leaving a set of four very confused prisoners.

* * *

The next place Rouge had gone to was back to her room. The she-bear followed close behind, and when they were both inside, Rouge moved over to the desk where she had planted Banjo's family picture. "Hey, I want to talk to you about something..." she said softly.

"What is it, Mama Rouge?" asked the bear.

"Please, just call me 'Rouge'," she said nonchalantly as she pulled the portrait out. "You make me feel like an old woman!"

"Oh, sorry, M... Rouge," said the she-bear softly.

"That's okay," said the bat as the two women sat on the bed, Rouge being careful to hide the portrait until she absolutely needed to show it. "Listen... I know it's painful, but... could you talk to me... about your earliest memory that you have?"

The bear's expression immediately tensed, and she suddenly looked down at the floor, sadness in her eyes as she was deep in thought. To try to comfort her, Rouge edged closer and draped one of her arms over the bear's shoulders. Rouge could not blame the bear for being so nervous, but she had to know whether she was sending the right person back to Banjo. The bat knew she would not press anything if it tread upon overly painful territory, knowing that if this did not work she could always bring this girl into her dream.

"I..." said the bear finally, getting Rouge's attention. "I don't remember people... But I remember... the earliest thing I can remember is this... this witch... who spoke in bad rhymes... She held me in this... glass... thing... I don't remember what she wanted anymore... But some person... I don't remember who... He came and saved me... I don't know anything after that..."

The instant the bat knew that, she recognized that this was in fact Tooty, Banjo's sister. The description matched up with the tale that Banjo had told of his own first adventure, and so she uncovered the portrait.

"I see," she said, holding the picture in front of the bear. "Tell me; do you recognize anybody in this photo?"

The bear who Rouge knew was Tooty by this point looked at the portrait. Gingerly, the bear took it from Rouge, studying every detail of the portrait. When Rouge looked at an angle into the bear's eyes, she suddenly noticed that the bluish-grey eyes of Tooty had begun to shine in a strange, curious kind of light. When her head slowly backed away, the bear's gaze locked onto Rouge's topaz eyes.

"Rouge...?" she said. "I think I do... That blonde bear..." Here, she pointed to the blonde bear in the picture. "That's... that's me..."

That was the moment everything came together for Rouge. The bear in sitting in front of her was definitely Tooty. It had to be the innocent she-bear that Banjo had adored so much when he was a younger bear.

"And who else do you recognize," asked Rouge, hoping to goad the bear into saying something else.

"That other bear..." she said, indicating Banjo in the portrait. "I don't know why, but for some reason... I think he's... important... I think... He knew me once... Rouge...?"

"Yes?" asked the bat in reply.

"Do you know... who this person is?" asked the bear nervously, taking her hand away from the picture.

Rouge swallowed nervously, unsure of what to tell the bear about everything. Taking a deep breath, she began.

"This..." she said. "He's your brother..."

The bear looked up at the bat with a strange kind of mixture of wonder and confusion on her face. Her eyes seemed to shine with a strange child-like curiosity, but her face was creased in a very confused kind of way. Clearing her throat, Rouge continued.

"I... I met him once too," she said. "And he told me about his missing sister. He told me about her, and I told him I'd keep an eye out... And... there's no doubt about it... Everything fits together..."

The bat took Tooty's hands in hers before continuing. "His name was Banjo," she said. "Tell me... Do you remember your name...?"

The bear looked away for a brief amount of time, thinking. Rouge waited in a great amount of anticipation as the bear looked around. When she whipped her head back to the bat suddenly, Rogue knew she had her answer.

"I think..." she said. "I think it was Tooty..."

Rouge nodded. She kept herself reserved, but secretly she wanted to tackle Tooty to the ground in joy. All that Rouge had to worry about after that was whether Tooty could enter her dreams or not and everything would be all right in Banjo's life again. There was a brief pause in which Tooty seemed to flinch as memories came back to her of everything that had happened in her life. It had taken the kindness of a complete stranger to get her to finally realize her identity, and for this Rouge seemed to be as happy as anyone.

"Tooty..." said the bat softly.

And before she knew it, the bear had grappled onto the bat with a tremendous amount of force behind it, and she proceeded to cry into her shoulder. Rouge simply put her

"Rouge, I wanna see my brother again!" she exclaimed, sobbing into her shoulder. "Please, Rouge, take me to him! I just want to see him again, even for a minute!"

The former G.U.N. agent nodded, patting Tooty's back as she herself was on the verge of tears of joy.

"Well..." she said. "You'll have to hold my hand tonight when you go to bed."

To this, the bear broke the hug, looking at Rouge with a very confused expression in her eyes. "Why?" she asked.

Rouge simply winked at her before standing up. "You'll see," said the bat. "Come on. I think we should tell Sonic and friends the good news, yes?"

Nervously, Tooty stood up and nodded to this. She then followed Rouge out of the room, and the two of them headed straight for the prisoners' room.

When bear and bat got there, the bat was ready to burst in telling them about Tooty when suddenly she noticed the absence of a certain blue hedgehog. Now that she was there, the bat's plans had been thrown out of the window, to say the least.

"Where's Sonic?" asked Rouge.

"Oh, some bots took him..." replied Amy, looking at the screen in fright.

This sentence alone was enough to send Rouge's white fur standing on end and wishing it could fly right off. Instantly she knew something bad was going to happen, and she knew she had to stop it at any cost. Quickly, she turned to her charge.

"Okay, stay here," she said as she went for the door. "And stay by the cages no matter what you do!"

"But, Rouge, I--"

"Just do as I say!" shouted the female bat as she rushed for the door. "Shadow, Amy, Cream, keep an eye on her!"

"What, in these cages?" asked Shadow.

Rouge nodded. "Just make sure she doesn't leave the room!" she exclaimed. "I'll be back as quickly as I can, okay?"

After receiving a nod from the bear, the bat promptly left the room, and she dashed straight for the control room, where she knew Robotnik would be conducting his experiments on Tails.

When she ran into the room, she was suddenly greeted with an orchestral burst of music. This promptly stopped her as suddenly a mezzo soprano began singing something over a silky orchestral texture.

**Doch er sah den Wagenlenker  
und vernahm die Trauerbotschaft:  
Sonne sank, indes die Glocke  
Grabgeläute tönte.**

Again, Rouge was about to ask, but she thought better of it and let the doctor continue playing the music as it went into a massive orchestral crescendo in a minor key.

**Weit flog ich, Klage sucht' ich  
und den Tod!**

And here, there was another burst of orchestral playing, this one with much more prominent brass and percussion than the one that preceeded it. Rouge felt goosebumps form all over her skin as she heard what she felt to be the most damning chords in all of music.

**Helwigs Falke war's, der grausam  
Gurres Taube zerriß.**

As the piece dragged to a close on a climactic minor chord, the doctor saw it fit to stop the tape here. He then turned to face Rouge.

"Ah, _Gurrelieder_," said the doctor with a slight smile on his face. "Always good for your epic musical fix."

Rouge shook off the feelings she had acquired while listening to the climactic music, her expression instantly hardening. "I don't really care for your musical fixes at the moment," she said bitingly. "Where's Sonic?"

Robotnik puckered his lips, raising a finger in the air as he stood up. "Ah, so you arrived just in time for the show," he said, moving over to the control panel.

"The show...?" asked Rouge in disbelief, glancing first out of the window that looked into Tails' cell and back at the doctor. "You mean, you're going to kill him?"

"Kill him?" asked the doctor. He laughed briefly after this. "Why would I need to do that?"

Rouge frowned, unconvinced at this that Robotnik was not going to harm Sonic in any way. "Because he's your enemy," she said. "I dunno, it would seem like the logical thing to do, you know?"

"Not really," replied Robotnik. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a set-up to--"

"And you're not worried about the emeralds at this time of day, are you?" asked Rouge suggestively. "I suggest you drop your project if you want to keep these things here."

"Oh, and you'd do that?" asked the doctor. The playful tone in his voice concerned Rouge, but she had confidence in her abilities.

"Right in front of your face," she said simply, walking over to the pedestal and running her hands over the emeralds. "You know that I worked for the government for several years and I could do it right now if I wanted to. So don't tempt me, you hear?"

The doctor paused for a second, Rouge's words sinking in as he snickered. Confused, the bat put her hands on her hips as her eyes narrowed in distaste.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"You amuse me, Rouge, you know that?" he asked. "You think we can blackmail each other all we want. Well let me tell you something." As he said this, he turned around and pointed a finger at Rouge accusatorily as several robots filed into the room immediately and blocked all of Rouge's possible exits, even the window to Tails' cell. "If you don't do as I say and leave me alone, I'll kill that little bear that you've been getting attached to over the past two days. And you'll be sitting in those electric cells, unable to do a thing about it while that girl writhes in agony before being killed. And I know where she is, so I can send my robots at any time." The doctor lifted up his walkie-talkie for emphasis on this. "It's your call, Rouge. The girl dies, or you let me do my experiments."

Rouge was thankful her fur was white; otherwise, the doctor would have noticed her face paling. There was no good option; either stand up for Sonic and risk having Tooty get killed, or keep Tooty alive and risk having Sonic get harmed. She knew she could try to make a break for it, but with the sheer number of robots in the base and the fact that there were almost no stealthy ways to get around in the narrow, heavily monitored corridors meant that this option was out of the question as well. She was also not the best fighter of all, and she knew that in a brawl with far too many people she would easily get overpowered.

Ultimately, however, she could not bring herself to rebel against Robotnik under much more personal circumstances than simple impracticality. Thoughts of Banjo swirled around her head as she realized that either way somebody was getting hurt, but nothing could compare to never seeing a sister after ten years of her being missing. The bias towards the honey bear was also apparent in that he was so close to seeing her sister; rebelling then would destroy the efforts she had put into reuniting the two bear siblings. Thus, she took her hand away, shaking her head as she looked at Robotnik.

"Do your worst..." she said morosely.

Eggman smirked heartily before setting the walkie-talkie down. "I'm glad we agree on something."

After this, the doctor laughed maniacally, the laughter hurting the bat's ears as the heart-thumping orchestral crescendo that had greeted her entry into the room pounded in her ears. Rouge figured it must have been her imagination, but every detail of the music was there, right down to the odd coloring of the one ostinato figure.

As the doctor laughed, Sonic was thrown into the room where Tails was, his hands and feet both bound by seperate pieces of rope as he tried to stand up but found it futile. Tails simply stared ahead, Sonic looking at him with pained emerald eyes as he tried desperately to stand up. Rouge peeked from behind the doctor, knowing that whatever he had planned could not be good for the hedgehog.

Even with that reassurance, nothing could have prepared her for the two words that would sear themselves into the bat's memory for as long as she would live.

"Rape him."

* * *

When Rouge had gone to the prisoner's room later that day, she had a distasteful grimace resting on her face. She had not returned for Tooty as she had promised earlier, but thankfully Eggman had decided to stay true to his word for once and so Tooty was standing silently by Shadow and Cream's cage, looking upon the only other occupied cage in the area.

It was the sight of Sonic that broke her heart, however; the male hedgehog was sobbing profusely into Amy's shoulder, the rose-colored hedgehog whispering comforting words into his ear as tears were travelling down her own cheeks. Rouge knew that the poor prisoners had seen everything that had transpired there, and so for an hour after it happened she dared not show her face to the prisoners.

When Rouge entered, Shadow's angry glare greeted her, and it was all he could do to keep himself from gripping the bars.

"Damn it, Rouge, you said you would do something!" cried Shadow. At this, everybody's attention was diverted to the bat as she looked at the ground. "And now Sonic's been raped! Damn it, Rouge, what the hell did you do there, stand around and wait for stuff to happen?"

Rouge shook her head sadly as she walked over to the bear. The poor thing instantly latched onto Rouge, crying into her hips.

"It was either him or my charge..." she replied to Shadow's question.

This only seemed to amplify his anger, however. "You'd pick a total stranger over a dear friend?" asked the black hedgehog, the venom exuded from his voice becoming too stinging for the bat to take. "How could you?"

Rouge shook her head again. "You wouldn't understand..." she said softly. "But that's okay."

"Why...?" asked Sonic, letting go of Amy to look at the bat.

The indescribable sadness that permeated the cobalt hedgehog's eyes was heartbreaking for Rouge to see. The sight alone was enough to nearly reduce her to tears right then and there.

"I'm sorry..." she said softly, biting on her finger. "But there's somebody... who misses somebody else dearly... And if I had let my charge die... I don't think he would've been able to take it..."

The hedgehog remained silent, which Rouge took as a signal to continue. "Robotnik threatened to kill my charge if I didn't stay put. Trust me, Sonic, I knew he would follow up on it because he seemed so determined. I couldn't... I can't just let somebody die if another person's happiness is at stake... But he never said he'd do that... Oh, damn it, Sonic... I've been such an idiot... I... I'm so sorry..."

Sonic seemed to understand the point Rouge was trying to make, and as he wiped the tears away from his muzzle he reached out a hand to the bat.

"Hey, hey," he said hoarsely, surprising Rouge with how worn his voice sounded. "I think I understand. You... you saved a person's life... twice... and really, that's all that matters..."

"Yeah, but it came at your expense," sobbed the bat, moving closer to Sonic's cage. "I wanted to stop him, but--"

"But you couldn't," replied Sonic softly. "Please, Rouge, don't kill yourself over this... I'm still angry that you didn't do more... But I... I think your choice was the for the best... even if I... well..."

Through his tears, Rouge saw a strange kind of sincerity that just a few days earlier Rouge thought Sonic would be incapable of giving to her. Smiling softly through her own sadness, she took the hedgehog's hand in hers, squeezing it softly before parting.

There was a rather lengthy silence as Sonic dried his own tears, Amy putting a hand on his shoulder as Rouge simply stood where she was. Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity, the bat helped the bear up. Rouge's eyes gleamed with the intensity of the moon on a cold night, and in it one could feel a strange spirit of sincerity pervading them.

"Come on," she said to the she-bear.

The two of them exited, Shadow's now quite softened expression following her out of the room. Cream simply looked to the sapphire hedgehog, a strange wonder in her eyes.

"You're just going to--?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Sonic. "Besides, it's not really her fault that Tails was being commanded to rape me, you know? I can't be angry at that."

"Hm..." said Amy as she pulled Sonic into a hug. "I'd think you'd be less forgiving than that, though..."

Sonic shrugged softly. "I dunno..."

"Why's that?" asked Shadow with a confused expression on his face.

The hedgehog looked to all three of the other occupants of the room, a sad smirk on his face.

"It's just a feeling," he said. "But I've got a feeling she's gonna do something to get herself in here..."


	14. Kazooie: Chapter 5

Awrighty now. We move on from those incredibly depressing developments and on to... more plot developments with much less depressing overtones.

Yeah, credit for one idea in the last chapter goes to StarryKirby; without _Any Dark Deed_ the rape would never have really happened like that. And it was originally supposed to be Cream that got raped, but I decided against it because seeing poor Cream get raped doesn't have as much of an impact as you'd like on our favorite blue-colored hero. Why do I say this? Read on and find out!

And yes, this is where we start seeing chapters told from the point of views of other characters. I say it's time to change the formula up a bit, yes? So let's start with a chapter told by... Kazooie!

* * *

Kazooie: Chapter 5

The one hundred laps had gone by without any event.

However, the difference here was that there was a strange kind of silence between the two. Kazooie was able to tell straight off the bat that something had been bothering Banjo. Since he had overslept that morning, she did not press the issue at all during breakfast, but it was something that had been bothering Kazooie during their laps.

Finally, after her talon trot laps the bird retreated back into her pack and rested her wings on Banjo's head.

"So what did you see in your dream last night?" she asked, for once trying to show a little reserve.

Surprisingly, the bird was met with Banjo looking up at her with a smile on his face. "Oh, Kazooie, it was great!" he said. "Rouge found Tooty!"

"She _what_?" exclaimed the breegull.

"Yeah," replied Banjo. "I took my portrait with me into my dream by accident, and then she recognized the bear as a teenager that she had saved two days ago! Oh, Kazooie, it was wonderful!"

"Whoah, whoah, wait!" replied Kazooie, waving her wings in front of her. "Are you saying that Tooty is with some slutty bat person?"

"Kazooie!" shouted the bear. "Rouge is not a slut!"

The breegull simply pouted. "Well, she may not be one, but she certainly looks like one, so you better start living with that or else," she said.

"Kazooie, don't," said Banjo. "She said she had recognized that the bear she had rescued two days ago was related to me!"

Kazooie was relatively unconvinced by this. "And how do we know she's not lying?" asked the bird flatly.

"I don't know," he said. "I had a little bit of a tough time believing it too. But everything will be answered during tonight's dream, I'm sure of it! She might even be in my bed tomorrow!"

Kazooie reeled back, actually jumping out of the backpack in her shock. "Banjo, are you nuts?" she asked. "How do we even know that we'll be able to get strange she-bear person over to this side of the world anyway?"

"Because she took my family portrait with her and it wasn't in my hands when I woke up!" replied Banjo, hoping this reply would be enough to shut Kazooie up. "Trust me, if she took that with her, I can take Tooty with me."

The breegull's glare only intensified. "You _gave_ our family portrait to some lady that we've barely known for a day?" asked Kazooie. "And without any fight, either? Damn it Banjo, why the hell are you letting slut face shove you around?"

"Kazooie, please" replied Banjo, noticing how spiteful Kazooie's replies were getting and becoming very distraught by this. "I know what I'm saying here, and I'm telling you she's not trying to push me around. Please. Give me until tomorrow morning, and we'll know for sure who's right, okay? Just this one chance, please."

The bitterness in the breegull's expression wore off after Banjo had said this. She was still unamused, however, and so she crossed her wings in front of her.

"Well, all right," she said. "But if I don't see some bear looking almost exactly like your sister tomorrow morning, you're getting hell from me!"

Banjo nodded in understanding. "So, Kazooie, you want to go adventuring today?"

"Eh, I dunno, I think I want some time to, you know, think about this," replied the breegull. "And I'd like to do that alone."

This reply greatly surprised the honey bear. This surprise quickly gave way to apprehension. "Oh, no, it's nothing I said, is it?"

"Oh, trust me, it's _everything_ you said," replied the breegull sardonically as she turned around. "I just need to think about it is all. I mean, how do you know this slut face isn't lying to you?"

"I... I just do..." said the honey bear, throwing his arms up in defeat. "I don't know. But Kazooie, please, trust me on this!"

"We'll see about that," she said briefly. "I'll be back before lunch, you can count on that. And if I'm not, well, you know."

Banjo was quite upset by this development, but knowing how Kazooie worked he decided not to argue about it. Simply he nodded.

"Well, all right," he said, turning around and walking back home. "I'll be waiting at home, Kaz!"

And the bear strutted back to the house, leaving the breegull to begin thinking.

* * *

Her 'thinking' had somehow brought her all the way to Bubblegloop Swamp. Banjo had repaired Grunty's old lair after they had defeated the witch; it was good nostalgia for them to just wander into the lair without any business to see old locales. For the most part, Bubblegloop Swamp had been deserted in the years since their first adventure, so Kazooie was free to avoid any contact as she thought about what Banjo had told her.

Of course, the breegull had no way of knowing if this Rouge person had been telling the truth or not. That was up to Banjo. But thinking a little harder about it now and how real Banjo had described the bat to be, she found herself doubting what she had said. Kazooie was only thankful she had not exploded at the bear; there was still plenty of room for the apologies afterwards, and the more Kazooie thought about the fact that the family portrait was not in Banjo's grip when she had woken up the more she realized that Banjo was probably right.

As she thought of things from Banjo's perspective, she was sure he was just looking for any kind of comfort he could find in terms of Tooty. Seeing how he had cried the day before at learning that Tooty had been raped repeatedly sometime during the ten years that she had gone missing, she figured this could certainly be the case.

Whatever it was, Kazooie realized then that she did not have anywhere near enough details to come to the same conclusions Banjo had. She then made it a point to ask Banjo as she manouvered around the various natural catwalks in Bubblegloop Swamp, being careful to avoid the pirhana-infested waters whenever she could.

After she had gotten to the island that Tiptup used to frequent, however, the breegull paused, getting the feeling that somebody was watching her from somewhere. Her head darted around quickly as she thought of this. When she saw nobody, she simply shrugged and dismissed this as a case of her imagination playing tricks on her.

Right when she had landed after gliding to where the yellow flibbits had attacked Banjo and Kazooie in their first adventure, however, Kazooie instantly noticed a figure with grey fur on the island where the giant turtle used to be before he left the swamp for some inexplicable reason. The figure had almost ethereal grey fur on his person that had obviously endured a great number of cuts from some source as some parts of the fur were stained red. He also wore gloves that had turqoise circles that were clearly visible even from a distance. Kazooie was quite shocked by this appearance of the figure, but upon seeing its many cuts she knew that something had happened.

"Hey!" she called out to him, before running to the edge of her island and gliding the rest of the way to where the strange figure was.

The stranger turned his head just as Kazooie landed on the island, his amber eyes looking at her in some strange kind of relief. It was only then that the breegull got to see the figure up close as a strange blue aura she had just noticed slowly fizzled out. The person was then leaning on his other leg for support, and at this Kazooie couldn't help but feel concerned.

"Oh, dear, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," replied the stranger as he limped over to the breegull. "I just twisted my ankle is all."

"Well, those cuts are not really caused by twisted ankles, yeah?" replied Kazooie.

"I know," replied the figure. "I was just talking about my leg."

When Kazooie looked at him a little longer, however, she suddenly realized that the figure standing in front of her looked remarkably similar to one of the characters that she and Banjo had read about a few days earlier. Looking at the pattern of quills on his head, she suddenly realized that she had bumped straight into Silver the hedgehog in the most unlikely of places. She would've had a difficult time hiding her surprise, but thankfully she suddenly noticed a faint yellow glow from within one of his clenched hands. Within that clenched hand, she noticed the distinct daimond cut of a Chaos Emerald, and then her eyes went wide.

"Wait..." she said. "That jewel... Oh, you were fighting robots just now, weren't you?"

The hedgehog raised one of his eyebrows, pulling at some of his white chest hair as he did. "How did you know?" he asked.

"Because you're cut, you're holding a Chaos Emerald, and various other things I don't feel like talking about, parrot hog," replied Kazooie dryly.

The stranger wrinkled his nose in distaste before continuing on. "Oh, you should've seen me when I got here last night," replied Silver, sitting on the ground. "I don't remember how I got here; I must've passed out or something. I guess I warped here... and..." He trailed at the end of his sentence, his amber eyes widening in shock.

"And what?" asked the breegull.

The grey-furred hedgehog shook his head. "I had a friend who got kidnapped," he said, limping towards the edge of the island a little faster than before. "I've gotta find him!"

"What, with those cuts and your ankle the way it is?" asked the breegull. "Oh, no, you are _not_ doing that, even if I have to tie you down to the chair and remove all sharp objects from the room, psycho man!"

"Are you kidding me?" retorted the hedgehog. "If I don't find him soon, then who knows what'll happen?"

Kazooie crossed her wings in front of her, trying to think of a way to bring Silver to Banjo's house before lunch came around. "Yeah, but I'm pretty sure Shadow wouldn't like it if you pushed yourself too much, especially with that ankle of yours."

The hedgehog was about to reply when he suddenly realized something about the way Kazooie had said the sentence. He did a double take before leaning towards the breegull and promptly falling on his stomach from leaning too far on his twisted ankle.

"Ow..." he said as he propped himself up on his arms, amber eyes looking straight into emerald ones. "How did you know his name was Shadow?"

The breegull snickered briefly. "Actually, you just confirmed it for me," replied the breegull. Silver blinked a couple of times as Kazooie continued. "But yeah, I know a certain computer head who knows everything. He told us some things. And yes, he actually does have a computer for a head."

The hedgehog looked at Kazooie with a bewildered expression on his face. "So you know my name is Silver then," he said.

"Yup," replied the breegull. "I know a lot more too, like how you're from the future and all that."

"Really...?" asked Silver uncertainly. "Then... you know my mission?"

"Whatever it is, it's gonna have to wait until we get that ankle taken care of," replied Kazooie as she walked over to Silver and knelt by him. "Come on, get on my back. I'll get you over to my house where me and my friend can take care of it."

With a great deal of effort, the hedgehog crawled onto Kazooie's back, feeling himself getting supported by the weight of the breegull's legs as he adjusted himself to a more comfortable position.

"Are you sure you can just carry me like this?" he asked uncertainly as crimson feathers brushed against silver fur.

"Bah, you're nothing," she boasted. "I've carried people heavier than you are before! But why didn't you use your... well... powers?"

"I already used them trying to keep myself standing up," replied Silver. "And if I overuse them, well, I'll pass out again. What's your name, by the way?"

The breegull simply shifted her feet. "Kazooie," she replied simply. "And you better not forget it either. Now hang on tight, 'cause this is going to be pretty fast!"

And with this, the breegull took off with the hedgehog hanging on as she moved out of Bubblegloop Swamp and back in the direction that she knew Spiral Mountain was in.

* * *

"And I turn it around, one, two, three, four..."

"You really don't have to go to this, you know. I... I can handle myself."

"Look psycho boy, you can yell all you want but we're not letting you go without doing this first!"

"Please, Mr. Silver, even if you'll be fine, just go through it for our peace of mind."

"Well, all right."

Banjo nodded and continued wrapping a bandage around Silver's twisted ankle as the hedgehog looked up at the ceiling. Banjo had been cooking lunch when the breegull had walked in with the hedgehog riding on her back. Instantly, the bear had paused what he was doing, preparing the couch and a few medical supplies. After the bear had tended to all of Silver's cuts, he had then wrapped a bandage around the twisted ankle, all while applying some ice to the injury. When he had wrapped the bandage a certain number of times, he then elevated the foot rest on his couch.

"There," said the bear. "Now I just need to find a cast, and you won't have to use your psychic energy to hold yourself up."

"And where do you plan on getting that?" asked the hedgehog.

"Oh, I'm not telling you," said Kazooie with a shrug. "But since you're coming along anyway you'll see the place, so it's not that important, now, is it, spike face?"

"Kazooie!" exclaimed Banjo as he returned to cooking lunch. "Be _nice_ to this guy."

The silver hedgehog nodded before adjusting himself in the couch. "Yeah, please," replied Silver. "I just got out of a dystopian future two weeks ago..."

Kazooie and Banjo both glanced at the hedgehog in a great amount of surprise. "Oh, come on," replied Silver. "You know I came from the future, so why shouldn't I say anything?"

The bear continued cooking as he spoke. "Well, Mr. Silver, it's not that so much as... well... dystopian?" he asked, stirring something in a pot. "In what we read about you, there was some Iblis thing running around killing everything, so I'm sure it's quite different. When you add in that the events that led to that timeline were erased from existence..."

The hedgehog shrugged a little, seeing the bear's point. "Oh," he said. "Well, when you put it that way I should tell you how my future goes right now."

"And what's it like?" asked Kazooie.

Silver sat up in his chair, being careful not to roll his sprained ankle off of the footrest by accident as he did. "Well, I was born in a small colony of people," replied the hedgehog. "I say small colony, because that was really the only thing left on our planet. Like, we were the only life on it."

Kazooie gawked at this, the shock very evident in her expression as she looked to the hedgehog in disbelief. "Whoah, what?" asked the breegull. "You're saying you and a few others were the only things left on the planet?

"How the hell did that happen?" asked Banjo, surprising Kazooie with his use of non-dignifying language.

"Well, I was told that somebody by the name of Dr. Eggman had taken over the world here in the past with some mind control machine powered by the Chaos Emeralds," replied Silver. Banjo nodded to this, listening intently. "And what happened then was that somebody else took over the system after he did. From what I heard, he got out of the mind control because he was a computer..."

Kazooie's green eyes narrowed before she rubbed her beak. "Let me guess," replied Kazooie. "Was it the Lord of Games?"

Silver's yellow-orange eyes lit up. "Why, yes!" replied Silver. "From what I hear, things got worse when he took over; he took everybody off of the mind control first."

"Well, isn't that a good thing?" asked Kazooie.

"Yeah!" replied Banjo. "I'm sure everybody would like to be taken off of mind control to get their freedoms back, right?"

The hedgehog shook his head. "I wish that the way things had happened were different," he said. "They did get our freedom back, and for what was said to be a week or so everything was rather tense. But then... everybody started fighting against each other."

Banjo turned around upon hearing this, almost knocking a pot of soup over in his surprise. "Don't tell me..."

"They waged a world war?" asked the breegull.

Silver nodded somberly. "It was terrible," he said. "It only lasted a year, but the loss of life was so bad..."

Kazooie shook her head. "Damn, that's terrible!" she said.

"It was a nuclear holocaust for the ages," said the grey hedgehog. "Bombs had gone off absolutely everywhere, and my world was an absolute wasteland. We had to live underground because there was no place we could stay on the surface without running into radiation."

"Oh, no..." said Banjo softly, his mind having been taken off of food as he heard Silver's story. "So that's why you're here?"

"I didn't have a choice," replied Silver softly. "This colony... It was slowly dying off. By the time I came back to here to fix everything, it was me and maybe four, five people. As far as I know, we were the last five people on the planet..."

"So then you found the Chaos Emerald and you went back to the past?" asked the honey bear.

"Yes," said Silver. "I heard the stories of Eggman and all that, so I figure that if maybe Dr. Eggman had been taken down before then, the world would be safe. But the problem is, I'm wasn't sure where to start."

"Hm..." said Banjo, rubbing his chin as he thought.

The breegull had a faster mind, and so she jumped right into the questions. "So you know that there were people who were trying to defend the world, right?"

"Yeah," said Silver. "I had heard all about them when I had come here. But by the time I found out who it was, I heard he had been captured. And shortly after that was when I had met Shadow."

"Hm..." hummed the honey bear, thinking about this. "Maybe that was what changed the future, you meeting with Shadow."

"W-what?" asked the hedgehog, quite surprised by this line of thought. "What do you...?"

"Well, if you hadn't met night face, then maybe he wouldn't have been able to send you away with your Chaos Emerald," replied Kazooie. "And maybe that would have meant that Eggman would've found our emerald and the Master Emerald earlier. So, your appearance here essentially bought us some time."

"I see..." said Silver.

Banjo was surprised by this explanation that Kazooie had given, not just in the fact that she basically read his mind, but that she displayed more knowledge than she typically did to other people. "But it isn't over yet," replied the bear. "There might still be a chance that the L.O.G. would have to come and take over the system."

"Exactly what I thought," replied Silver. "So we still need to find Eggman."

"And neither of us know where he is," added Banjo as he looked at the food he was cooking and then began to turn off the stove. "But I've got a feeling we'll find out soon enough."

"Yeah," replied Kazooie. "It's good you were able to buy us some time."

Banjo then grabbed some oven mitts, and he pulled the pot with the soup over to the nearby table. Grabbing some soup spoons, he poured some soup into three bowls first for himself, then for Kazooie, and then another for Silver. He handed Silver's bowl to the hedgehog first. Confused, the silver hedgehog looked at the soup and back at Banjo.

"What's this?" asked Silver.

"Oh, good ol' vegetable gumbo," replied the bear as he sat down at the table facing Silver. "You'd like it."

As Kazooie sat down on her side of the table, the hedgehog looked into his food nervously before looking over to Banjo.

"And what am I supposed to eat this with?" asked Silver. "I've never had anything like this!"

The hedgehog heard a whizzing sound in the air, and he was able to raise his hand just in time to psychokinetically stop a spoon from hitting him in the eye. The turquoise aura surrounded the small metal eating utensil let off a strange kind of glow as Kazooie looked at him with a bewildered expression on her face.

"That's what you use, psycho boy!" replied Kazooie. "You figure it out!"

"Kazooie!" replied Banjo.

The breegull glared at the honey bear playfully as Silver looked at the spoon. He telekinetically drew the spoon to his hand, the aura dissapearing as soon as his hand had gotten a hold of the object. He then dipped the spoon into the bowl of gumbo, noticing some of it settling inside the little pit in the spoon. Gingerly, he brought the soup to his mouth, and when he tasted the gumbo he unintentionally burned his tongue.

"Ow!" replied Silver, jerking violently as he brought the spoon out of his mouth. He would have sent the bowl flying from his lap if not for the fact that he had involuntarily used telekinesis on the bowl of soup before he had jerked violently. "This thing is hot!"

"Try blowing on it first," said Banjo nonchalantly as he put a spoonful of the stuff in his mouth. "That should help."

The grey hedgehog looked to Banjo first before looking back down at the soup bowl. He took some soup in the spoon again, and this time he took Banjo's advice to blow on it. When he brought the spoon to his mouth again, he found that whatever vegetable gumbo was actually tasted quite good when he took the heat out of the equation.

* * *

Later that evening, everybody was slowly falling asleep in the house. Silver was already fast asleep on the couch that he had sat in since he got there, and thanks to a few donations from Banjo's spare bedsheets the hedgehog was sleeping very soundly and comfortably. As Banjo hung his rucksack on the hat rack for Kazooie to sleep in, the breegull tugged at his shorts.

"Kaz?" asked Banjo softly.

"I should've said something earlier, but..." began Kazooie. "I did think about what we said before I found Silver. And... I'm sorry for yelling at you. I don't think I should've. I mean, I wasn't the one having those dreams, so..."

Banjo patted Kazooie's head affectionately after he heard this. "Hey, don't worry about it," replied the bear as he sat on his bed. "Now all we have to do is wait and see what happens."

"That's true," said the breegull as she jumped into the backpack. "And if she's here when I wake up, well, you'll know it."

"Okay," said Kazooie as Banjo pulled the covers over his person. "Night, Banjo."

"Night, Kaz," replied the bear.

The both of them drifted off to sleep shortly afterward, although Banjo really had to concentrate on breathing slowly so he could keep his anticipation to himself.


	15. Fünfte Träume

All right.

So Silver entered the fic last time, and I gave him a completely different backstory than in Sonic '06 and a slightly grittier personality. Why? Well, to be honest, Silver can have as many backstories and personalities as he has possible futures to come from, so I chose this one in particular to do things with. And what happened with him and Shadow? Well, since Shadow got captured, I think we can connect dots, yeah?

Now, it's time to see; will Tooty be returning to Banjo's world? Well, we'll see here, so let's go on, shall we?

* * *

Fünfte Träume

_When Banjo found himself in his dream world, the metal room seemed to be even brighter than he had remembered it to be previously. Somehow, this was beginning to hurt his eyes just the slightest bit, so he closed them and rubbed them with his hands._

_However, when he opened his eyes again, he saw Rouge sitting on the bed with a smile on her face. It was the she-bear sitting next to her that caught Banjo's attention, however. Her blonde hair, her blue eyes..._

_Rouge had gotten Tooty after all it seemed._

_"Tooty!" cried the honey bear in joy._

_Before the bat could comment, the male bear had tackled his sister to the ground, catching both women off guard. Banjo gripped Tooty to his person with near-crushing force, and he sobbed in delirious happiness as Tooty simply returned the hug with her own soft grip._

_"Banjo..." said the female honey bear. "You're... in Rouge's dream?"_

_"Yeah..." said Banjo, choking up from how happy he was. "Oh, Tooty..."_

_"It's a complicated story," replied Rouge. "I'm sure you wouldn't understand much of it, either. But yeah, he's in your dreams, and if my predictions are correct he'll be able to take you out of the dreams as well."_

_"Oh, you mean, I can go home?" cried Tooty, standing up despite the protesting embrace of Banjo._

_"Yep," replied Rouge._

_"Oh, Rouge!" The female bear tackled the bat to the ground, hugging her tightly. The former G.U.N. agent was caught greatly off guard, but nevertheless she could not help but smile. "Thank you so, so, so, so much!"_

_"Hey, don't mention it," replied Rouge as the bear released her. "It's all in a day's work, you know?"_

_Banjo had stood up by this time, so when the bat also stood up he looked to Rouge. Tears of joy were flowing down his cheeks, and he simply pulled Rouge into a great bear hug. His voice was choking with happiness, he was so happy._

_"Oh, Rouge..." said the honey bear with the joy seeping out of his voice. "How am I supposed to thank you for this?"_

_"I don't know," replied the bat as her own arms wrapped around Banj's body. "I..."_

_"Oh, Rouge, you've done so much with just this..." said Banjo._

_It was then that the male bear and the bat had parted. With a smile, Banjo took his sister's hand in his and looked to her._

_"Tooty... I can't believe I found you again," he said._

_"I didn't remember you for some time..." replied the bear. "But... now that I see you... Oh, Banjo...!"_

_The bear siblings found themselves in another small hug after this, Tooty crying into Banjo's shoulder as the older bear patted her back as he himself cried. Rouge found she could barely contain herself in the jovial atmosphere of the dream, as she herself was on the verge of tears from how happy she had made people. For once, something had finally gone completely right for the bat for the first time since she had joined Eggman._

_The two bear siblings parted, Banjo keeping a firm hold on Tooty's wrist as they both looked to her with happiness in their eyes._

_"So, do I just hold her hand, or...?" asked Banjo._

_"Assuming it even works," replied Rouge, pulling Banjo's family portrait from within her glove. "Also, I'm very sure you'll want this back..."_

_The bear took his portrait back with a smile on his face that contrasted sharply with his tears of joy. "I think I can take her back," replied Banjo. "I... If you were able to take the portrait with you when I carried it, we can do the same for Tooty, I'm sure..."_

_"So, I'll be back home?" asked Tooty softly._

_"Yes," replied Banjo as he sat down on the desk, still holding on to Tooty's wrist. "Kazooie's gonna be there..."_

_"Oh, my!" exclaimed the female bear as Rouge looked on, deciding to give the siblings time to catch up. "How's Kazooie been doing?"_

_"Oh, she's been great!" replied her brother as she looked towards the ceiling. "She's still spouting insults at everyone she meets, that's for sure."_

_Tooty chuckled, rolling her eyes at the ceiling as she too sat on the desk. "And how're Bottles and... uh... the pink fuzzy guy with the skull?"_

_"Mumbo?" asked Banjo, slightly alarmed that she didn't remember the shaman that had helped Banjo and Kazooie from the very beginning. "They're all doing fine! We've been so worried about you for the past ten years! What happened to you?"_

_Tooty was silent at this, and Rouge shook her head. Taking a hint, Banjo looked down at his feet, his eyes betraying guilt. "I'm sorry," he said. "Here we are, finally together, and that's one of the first things I ask."_

_"Don't worry about it," replied the female bear. "I'm gonna have to tell you anyways..."_

_"You don't have to tell me now," replied Banjo as he pulled Tooty into a hug. "Besides, I already know some small details..."_

_Tooty nodded grimly. "I see..." she said._

_"And..." continued Banjo as he turned to face his sister. "I just want you to know... that no matter what happens, I'm still your brother, and I still care for you more than you can think. So if you think I won't take well to something, well, try me."_

_The female bear swallowed before nodding, her eyes slightly uncertain as she did this._

_"All right," said Tooty softly. "But I still don't want to think much about it..."_

_Banjo patted her shoulder comfortingly. "You don't have to tell me right away," he said. "But I do want you to say everything eventually."_

_The female bear nodded as Rouge walked over to the desk. When she got there, she leaned against the desk with her forearms flat on it as she looked at both of them._

_"I... I'm just happy you guys have seen each other again," said Rouge._

_Banjo smiled as he placed a hand on the bat's shoulder. "Again, I'm not sure how to thank you for that, Rouge," he said. "I can't thank you enough for this."_

_"You'll think of something eventually," replied the bat with a shrug. "I'm sure of it."_

_The bear simply smiled, looking to Tooty and Rouge with his eyes shining in sheer bliss._

* * *

Banjo woke up just as the sun rose. The first thing he noticed was that the bed sagged from an extra weight on it. Confused, he turned to see what else could have been in his bed.

The first thing he saw when he turned to look was Tooty's blonde hair. The female bear's back was to Banjo, but she still wore the red shirt and jeans that he had seen her in the dream in.

Just before he could burst out sobbing from jollity, the female bear turned around, and then Banjo looked into cloudy bluish-grey eyes.

"I'm... I'm home now, aren't I?" asked the female bear in a semi-whisper.

Banjo's reply came in the form of him taking her in his arms, twirling around and rolling right off the bed into the floor with a rather loud boom.

"Oh, Tooty!" shouted Banjo, hugging his sister close to him as he sobbed in happiness. "You're back! You're back! After all these years, you're finally back!"

"Hey, what the hell is--?"

The racket had woken up Kazooie abruptly, but when she looked down at the scene from where she was situated on the hat rack, her eyes went wide as Banjo and Tooty both looked at the breegull.

"Kazooie?" asked the she-bear nervously as she stood up.

"Tooty!" cried the breegull. She jumped out of her backpack with such zealousness that she knocked the hat rack down to the floor when her foot caught on a piece of Banjo's rucksack. The bird then ran over to the female bear and enveloped her with scarlet wings. "Oh my God, Banjo was right! He brought you back!"

"I'm just so glad to be back," replied the she bear as she pulled Banjo into the hug and the happy family was reunited once again.

"Oh, this is the happiest day of my life..." said Banjo happily.

He promptly got smacked in the back of the head by his breegull companion. "Save the cheese for later, Banjo!" cried Kazooie. "Besides, the day's only just begun! We've gotta run to Showdown Town and tell everybody about this!"

Tooty rolled her eyes and chuckled at this, thinking about how this was also the happiest day of her own life.

In the adjoining kitchen, the jovial racket had woken Silver, and the confused hedgehog was left to wonder what was going on as Kazooie, Tooty, and Banjo all shouted their heads off in great joy. The grey hedgehog was so confused he failed to notice that the Chaos Emerald that was lying on the table had a slightly stronger glow than it what was normal for the jewel that was quickly fading into the regular light that the emeralds usually gave off.


	16. Rouge: Chapter 5

So, last time, Tooty finally returned home to Spiral Mountain after being missing for ten years. So next chapter is essentially going to be Banjo, Kazooie, Silver, and Tooty all running around Showdown Town trying to find a cast for Silver and letting Bottles, Mumbo, and L.O.G. know about Tooty. And what might Humba and T.T. say to that? We'll see. The chapter after this is mainly filler (I know, I promised, but it's only one chapter this time around), so we just sit around waiting for stuff to happen.

Meanwhile, this chapter...

Oh, boy... *laughs evilly*

* * *

Rouge: Chapter 5

When the bat woke up that morning, she noticed the wrinkled bedsheets where Tooty had laid down the previous night. Realizing that she was not there when the morning came, Rouge was happier than she had been in her entire life. Finally, something had gone completely right for her in the previous few days, and it took something as simple as a batch of Chaos Emeralds to make things right to somebody.

Of course, this left her with a lie she would have to tell to keep Eggman from noticing anything. She was planning on telling the truth to Sonic and his friends in written form and asking them to keep very, very quiet about it, but Eggman should never have to know.

Thinking about this, she jumped out of her bed and moved towards the desk. She scribbled down her story on a piece of paper for Sonic and friends to read silently while thinking of a lie that she could use to fool Eggman. She figured it would work for barely a day, seeing as how the doctor was a genius and could figure things out, but she knew something would have to do until he found out.

As she finished writing the note, she looked it over before folding it up and placing it in her cleavage. She went straight towards the prisoners' room with the intent of giving the paper to Sonic to read, a wide smile on her face. She was so happy she could sing out to the heavens about her happiness.

However, when she entered the room, the scene she walked in on shocked Rouge out of her blissful state. She found Cream kneeling in her cell with Shadow being asleep in her lap. The black hedgehog had a few singe marks in his skin, and what was even more disturbing was that some of the fur had been burned right off. The bat was quite disturbed at seeing this.

"What happened?" asked rouge as she rushed over to Cream's cage, Amy and Sonic both looking at her as the pink hedgehog held the azure hedgehog with loving arms. "Why'd he hit the cages?"

"I don't know!" replied Sonic as he looked at the black hedgehog. "He woke us up in the middle of the night with so much noise I'm surprised you slept through all that! Eggman didn't sleep, and he's farther away from us than you are!"

Rouge was baffled by this. "What do you mean?" asked the bat.

"It was the wierdest thing, Ms. Rouge!" replied Cream. "We were sleeping, and then he jumped up screaming!"

"And then the next thing we knew, he was going apeshit while screaming about stuff like how there was so much Chaos energy that it was hurting him!" replied Amy excitedly. "And when he was yelling, he kept on hitting the cage. And right when Eggman got here, he passed out for some reason! It was so wierd, Rouge!"

Upon hearing this explanation, the bat froze absolutely still. Shadow needed to have a great deal of Chaos energy go by him for him to feel any form of pain from it. However, she also knew that there was no possible source for such immense power...

...But then she remembered that Tooty had been sent back home the previous night. And if Shadow had experienced pain from Chaos energy...

"Oh, no..." said Rouge, putting a hand over her breast. "I..."

Instantly, Sonic's emerald eyes narrowed. He glared at Rouge before crossing his arms in front of him.

"You know something about what's going on, don't you?" asked Sonic crossly.

"Uh, no!" replied Rouge quickly in a half-shout. Sonic was about to fume at the bat when he noticed that she was looking around to the audio surveillance spots while taking a slip of paper out of her cleavage. She then slipped the note into the cage, and then the blue hedgehog got a hold of it and brought it up to his face.

"Whatever you do, don't read that aloud!" she said in a whisper. "I'll be back in a bit!"

And with this, the bat left the prisoner's room, leaving Cream, Amy, and Sonic to look at the note. Slowly, the male hedgehog opened the note, and the three of them read it at their own pace, without actually speaking.

She then barged into the control room, where Eggman was preparing some sick experiments for Tails to try out, no doubt. When she entered, she found the doctor wasn't saying anything, nor was he playing any music like she half expected him to at this point. Instead, he was hunched over a radar system, studying it carefully and punching something into the nearby keyboard.

The bat moved to Eggman's side before the doctor finally noticed her presence. Coughing, he looked at her with a crooked smile on his face.

"Hello, Rouge," replied the doctor with a strange kind of perverse joy in his tone.

"I heard about what happened to Shadow," replied Rouge, slightly unnerved by the tone of his voice but deciding to ignore it. "What happened?"

The doctor then turned to the computer and pointed at its screen. The world map was displayed on a large screen, with two large electric dots over two areas just above one of the tropics. Instantly, Rouge's fur stood on end, and she feared the worst.

"You see those two dots?" asked the doctor as he indicated them with a finger.

"Yeah?" asked Rouge, struggling to maintain her composure.

"Those two dots happen to be what caused Shadow to wake up in pain last night," replied Eggman. "Now the only thing that would make him do that would be a whole ton of Chaos energy that would be expelled..."

Rouge nodded, sweat beginning to travel down her face as she looked. She was only thankful she had forgotten to apply eyeshadow that morning. "So, those caused him pain? Then why are they on the other side of the world?"

"Well, the energy started from here," replied the doctor as he sat with his legs folded over each other. "But then it did something wierd; as I was watching this radar, these two dots here rapidly progressed first to this point--" Eggman pointed at the higher of the two dots. "--and the straight on over here." Here he indicated the lower of the two dots. "Almost like a Chaos Control, but not quite."

The former G.U.N. agent had a feeling she already knew what had happened, but she chose not to say anything to the doctor. "So... what's the difference?"

"First, have you ever heard of a Chaos Mooring?" asked the doctor. When the bat shook her head a little too fervently for comfort, he looked back to the radar system. "I wouldn't be surprised; not a whole lot of people know about it."

"Chaos Mooring?" asked Rouge in anticipation. "What's that?"

"Well, it works something like this. Let's say we're here with some emeralds--" here he indicated the small cluster of dots that were the five emeralds that Eggman had in his base that were just south of the lower of the two dots, "--and let's say there are another set of chaos emeralds and a shamanic item to add to that. Also suppose that the Master Emerald is in the proximity of one of you."

"Okay?" asked Rouge.

"Now, you've set up a pair of mooring posts," replied Eggman. "Now, suppose somebody is here, and somebody is over there. Now, they both go to bed and fall asleep. What happens then is that an arc of Chaos energy goes between the two mooring posts where the Chaos Emeralds and the one side with the shamanic object are. And what happens there is that the person nearest to at least one emerald of their respective set of Chaos Emeralds starts to see the person who's closest to both an emerald and the shamanic object in their dreams. And this actually goes on in an alternate dimension where neither party are really asleep."

The bat scratched her head. Her and Banjo's hypothesis had been correct all along. But this only added to the confusion that the bat was feeling; it explained why she could remember every detail of her dreams vividly, but it did not explain how she had been able to move the portrait and Tooty around.

"But why are you mentioning this now?" asked the bat. "I mean..."

The doctor chuckled darkly as he pointed a finger in the air. "Ah, this is where it gets good!" replied Eggman jovially. "Once both parties have at least five emeralds in their proximity along with the shamanic object and the Master Emerald, people can start bringing things into their dreams to trade with others. Of course, this is a small feat, as it produces an energy signal too small to actually be read by this technology after a certain distance, and it can't trade large mass. However..."

He turned to the bat, a small, malicious grin on his face. The instant she saw this, Rouge knew she was screwed. The fear she was experiencing as this realization dawned upo her kept her paralyzed in place, however, and now that she saw the grin all attempts at keeping face in front of the doctor crumbled to dust almost instantly.

"If either party has some combination that results in both of them having all seven emeralds on both sides, they can transport organic mass to another point," he said. "And then, there's a spike of energy at the place where the organic mass was transported, which is where the remaining emeralds would be." Here, he stood up, and suddenly Rouge found herself backing into the wall. "Now, I gave you one Chaos Emerald at the start of this scheme to take over the world, and then you assumed guardianship of that bear. So that gives me reason to believe two things. One, that the remaining two emeralds are at either one of the points indicated by the radar. Two, that you transported that bear to one of those points."

The doctor kept that malicious grin as Rouge bumped into a wall, the sweat pouring down her face from fright and shock. She looked up at the doctor, very uncertain topaz looking into soulless goggles that flashed with the most evil overtones Rouge had ever seen.

"I'll give you one hour, and one hour only," he said, on the verge of cracking up. "If I don't find that bear within that time, then that emerald is mine, and you will become my prisoner! And then, you'll get to watch as I take over the world, with the corpse of that little bear to stare at you the whole time! And there's nothing you can do, as I'll be sending my troops to a certain set of coordinates tomorrow, and I'll be going there myself after two days to collect my treasure!"

Rouge gulped loudly and nodded ridiculously fast. "Y-yes... uh... sir..." she replied. "I'll find her..."

"Good," replied the doctor with a grin as Rouge moved towards the door. "If you don't find her, I'd like to thank you in advance for helping me out, skank!"

As the doctor laughed maniacally, Rouge exited the control room.

She dashed towards her room first to grab the Chaos Emerald from there to hide it somewhere. She knew that technically she could run to the storeroom on the other end of the control room, but she also knew that he kept his most vital technologies stored in a vault that even she could barely crack, and unfortunately this included the technology to turn invisible. Thus, she only had one hour to find a computer away from the control room, hack into the system, change the coordinates that Eggman had set for his supposed attack, cover her tracks from that so they wouldn't realize they were in the wrong place until the absolute last minute possible, and hide the Chaos Emerald somewhere close to the prisoner's room so she could keep on talking to Banjo.

With this in mind, she dashed into her room, literally threw the mattress up, grabbed the emerald from where she had placed it under the mattress, and dashed right out. She barely even gave her room a final glance as she ran out; she was so pressed for time she decided to forgo that clichéd idea of seeing one's living space for the last time.

* * *

The bat barged into the prisoners' room with such speed that it surprised Sonic.

"Whoah, Rouge, what's the rush?" asked Sonic.

Rouge did not reply, noticing a computer console in one of the corners. She ran straight for it, jumping right under one of the cells straight towards the monitor. Once there, she began typing away, hoping to hack into Eggman's databases with enough time to cover her tracks. She had taken fifteen minutes to hide the emerald, however, so she was pretty confident that she could hack into the system in forty-five minutes.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on..." whispered Rouge repeatedly as she typed away.

Sonic would have said something, but Amy put an arm on his shoulder. They looked at each other, and this effectively kept Sonic's mouth shut. When Rouge did manage to hack into Eggman's database, she raised her fist in the air triumphantly, knowing that she was done with half of the battle.

Cream, who was still cradling Shadow in her lap, looked at the bat with bewilderment running greatly through them. Sonic was fighting back the urge to speak as Rouge typed away, hoping to find something about where the coordinates for Eggman's attack were.

Finally, she came across a screen of coding that Rouge suddenly paused on. To the normal eye, this coding would have been insignificant, but Rouge knew that this controlled how the computer read Chaos energy. Quickly, she looked over each equation, finally finding an equation that looked that it could control where the energy was pinpointed.

"How the hell does he expect this kind of coding to work?" asked Rouge softly, wondering what was going through Eggman's head as he had written a surprisingly simple equation to figure out. "I'd think a guy with 300 IQ would do a better job of hiding his tracks than this..."

"Huh?" asked Sonic, finally speaking up in his sheer confusion.

Rouge did not reply, instead wondering how much she could affect where the dot appeared. As far as she knew, the doctor had not given the coordinates to his robots, so she was left to wonder how much she should change the equation without him noticing. For once, she was thankful that his world maps did not display coordinate numbers; she would have been screwed otherwise.

With this in mind, the bat then changed the equation ever so slightly; however, she knew that it would be enough to greatly derail Eggman's search. When she got out of this screen of coding and moved through the rest of Eggman's database, she found the world map screen again, and her keen eyes noticed that both dots had shifted ever so slightly to the side; even though she could see the difference, she was sure he would never notice with his eyesight the way it was. She read that area of the map quickly, reading 'Isle 'o Hags' and realizing that Banjo had to go to the eastern part of the island.

The bat sighed in relief. Now all that was left for her to do was to cover her tracks as best she could, but since she had changed the fundamental coding of the system she figured it would be hard to catch. So she simply did a more elaborate equivalent of hitting the back button, and suddenly the computer was monitoring the electricity that ran through the bars.

"Okay," she said, sighing in relief. "I'll be back in a few seconds."

The bat promptly dashed out of the room, leaving the two hedgehogs and the rabbit to be very confused. The entire process had taken ten minutes, and even as Rouge ran back into the control room where Eggman sat hunched over his console she knew that she had one small victory over the doctor even in defeat.

"All right, I confess," she said as Eggman turned to see her. "The bear isn't here... I think she's at the lower of the two points..."

The doctor grinned evilly as his thumb went over to a button. "He he he..." he chuckled. "I knew you'd bend under pressure."

Eggman pressed the button, and then Rouge looked silently at him.

"What did that do?" asked the bat.

"It sent all of my robots the coordinates to where the energy was detected," he said. "I wouldn't have wanted a false alarm, after all..."

At this, the doctor laughed as two robots came in and roughly grabbed Rouge by the arms. To keep up appearances, she struggled with them briefly, her eyes very afraid as the robots carried her out of the control room. When the robots dragged her into the prison room, she was roughly tossed into the small cage all the way at the end of the row that was far from Cream. Upon hitting the bars, she let out a scream as she was shocked briefly before hitting the ground of her elevaged cage. Once the cage door was closed on her, the robots filed out, leaving Sonic, Amy, and Cream to stare at the bat with a bewildered expression on their faces.

And immediately, Sonic pounced on her with questions.

"What the hell just happened?" asked the blue hedgehog. "Why--?"

"Eggman found me out!" replied the bat. "He found me out! Please tell me you read what I gave you!"

Amy gave her a quizzical expression. "You're being awfully loud about it now!" she exclaimed. "Yes, we read the note, but shouldn't you be quiet about it?"

Rouge shook her head. "There's no point in keeping it down now," she replied. "He caught me based on energy readings from what happened with that..."

Sonic glared at Rouge before pointing a finger at her in accusation. "Aha!" he replied. "I knew you had something to do with how--"

"And don't you think for one second that I had my own interests in mind!" shouted Rouge. "That's how that bear I saved managed to get out of here, otherwise Shadow wouldn't be out cold and I wouldn't be sitting here!"

All three of the other occupants of the prisoners' room looked at Rouge with a strange expression on their faces. "So... you tried to do something good...?" asked Cream.

"And this is what happens," replied Rouge, glaring at the direction of the control room as she sat down. "I get caught, and I'm sent here." Sonic shook his head angrily, but before he could say anything the bat continued. "But you know what? It was totally worth it. I... you read the entire note, right?"

"Up to the point where you talked about that other bear you saw in your dreams?" asked Sonic softly. "Yeah."

"Well, that bear... she was special to him," said the former G.U.N. agent as she looked up. "And... even if I knew this would happen, I wouldn't have wanted to see him cry. He's so... gentle... Guys like him just don't look good with tears on their faces. I didn't want him to suffer from not knowing my charge's anymore. Call it pity if you want, but as soon as I found out about their relation I said to myself; 'I'd go to any length to see him smile'. And, so, I gave him his sister back. He was so happy... Even if this is what would have happened, I wouldn't have it any other way..."

As Rouge looked dreamily at the grey walls, Amy and Cream were genuinely touched by this small explanation. Sonic was dead silent for around three seconds. Then, he shifted, a playful smirk having taken a hold of his face as his eyes glinted in mischief.

"Really?" asked the blue hedgehog. "I think someone's in love here..."

Rouge was immediately caught off guard, and despite herself a great blush showed through her white fur. "W-what?" she asked. "Why d-do you say that?"

Amy punched the air with her arms, her hand barely grazing the cage as she let out a short whoop. "Aha!" shouted the rose-tinted hedgehog gleefully. "You are in love!"

Rouge's blush only intensified, but then it faded rather quickly as she thought about what Eggman was planning to do the next day. Surprised, the three other prisoners looked to the bat.

"Wait, Banjo..." she said. "Eggman's going to head straight for him tomorrow!"

"What?" asked Cream. "How are you going to warn him?"

Rouge winked at them. "Well, when a girl's got a way, a girl's got a way," she whispered. "I've got something together, don't worry."

"Yeah, but what is it?" asked Cream, whispering to the bat as she was the closest one to her.

The bat's soft blue eyes glanced at the places where the microphones were before whispering. "I'll tell you in two days when Eggman isn't here."

The rabbit gave a confused glance before whispering this information to Sonic and Amy. All the while, Rouge looked skyward, hoping that the place where she had hid the emerald was close enough to her so she could talk to Banjo that night in her dream.


	17. Tooty: Chapter 6

Oh, noes! The amount of plot twists is getting to my head! Let's hope I don't take the M Night Shayalaman route and end this with a twist ending! (Don't worry, I suck at twist endings, so I won't subject you to that.)

And here we go with a filler chapter where nothing much really happens. You'll see why in a minute. So, away chapter!

* * *

Tooty: Chapter 6

"So, let me get this straight; some woman that you've been seeing in your dreams brought back your long-lost sister through her dreams?"

"That's pretty much it, Mr. Silver."

The grey hedgehog nodded at this. Banjo and Kazooie had forgone the hundred laps that morning; they were so happy that Tooty was finally back home that they had pretty much forgotten about that. When the she-bear had noticed Silver, however, a long story-telling session had ensued that went on even as Banjo was preparing breakfast.

"I see..." replied the grey-furred hedgehog as he rubbed his chin. "I think the emeralds might have had something to do with it..."

"Well, that doesn't really matter, now does it?" asked Kazooie from where she sat, hugging Tooty with her wings. "What matters is that she's back!"

"Yeah!" said Banjo. "We should head to Showdown Town and tell Mumbo and Bottles the news!"

At this, Tooty gave a confused expression. "Showdown Town?" she asked.

"Oh, the latest adventure we had?" replied Kazooie. "That's where we had it. And it's run by a computer head."

Tooty was quite confused by this. "Computer head?" asked the she-bear. "Are you saying he has a computer for a head?"

"You better believe it!" replied Banjo as he came with the prepared breakfast and placed it on the tables. "Eat up, guys; we've got a fairly long day ahead of us!"

Silver was hesitant with the meal, but Tooty dove right into her breakfast. The sheer ferocity with which she ate her food was something that threw Banjo and Kazooie off quite a bit. Nevertheless, they were glad that she was at least eating at the same table again after all those years and Banjo simply smiled before beginning his own breakfast.

* * *

A few minutes later, Banjo stood in front of the portal to Showdown Town with Kazooie in his backpack as Tooty and Silver looked at the portal. Silver was for the most part relying on his telekinesis for a crutch, and so far he had found no problems trying to move. However, he told Banjo to prepare to act as a crutch in case they did not get the cast before he had been tired out by his own abilities. He knew that time would come very slowly, though, since he had levitated much heavier objects than himself.

"So, this leads to Showdown Town, huh?" asked Silver with a small sense of wonder.

"Yeah," said Banjo. "I think you'll love the place."

Tooty gave the portal an odd glance. "This is here Mumbo and Bottles went to?" she asked unbelievingly. "Why'd they move here?"

"Well, goggle boy's family left him after he came back to life," replied Kazooie, continuing as she got an incredulous glance from Silver. "Long story, don't get me started. So then after that, he moved here. As for skull face..."

"Whatever, it's not that important," said Silver as he moved towards the portal. "Let's go see what this place is about, yeah?"

Banjo walked forward. "You might want to be careful," said the bear. "There's a slope that leads down to the town, so you might want to slide around on one side of your body..."

"Huh," said Silver as he released the telekinetic hold on his own foot. He then bent down on the ground, laying down on his back as he slowly slid towards the portal. "Thanks for the heads up!"

"No problem!" said Banjo. "Now, let's go!"

And with this, the four of them entered the portal, Silver in a sort of half crawl and Tooty entering uncertainly. The hedgehog ended up seeing Banjo's point, as then all four of them were sent sliding down he slope into the town proper. Tooty was greatly caught off guard, and if it was not for the fact that she had slipped she probably would have tumbled down the slope instead of merely sliding down. All four of them touched down at approximately the same time; however, Silver suddenly felt something hit him hard in the stomach, and before he could figure out what it was he suddenly felt somebody else's body weight being flung down on top of his own.

The figure was still down when Banjo and Kazooie had stood up from where they had slid down the slope, Tooty joining them as the man Silver had bumped into stood up, brushing himself off apologetically as Silver stood up frantically.

"Aw, hell," muttered Kazooie, shaking her head as she saw the familiar blue hair and sunglasses. "Pride man never never learns, does he?"

Before Tooty could ask who the cheetah was, Silver had stood up, nearly stumbling on himself due to his twisted ankle. "Oh, I'm so sorry, sir!" said the hedgehog apologetically. "I--"

"That was not cool!" retorted the cheetah angrily as he thumbed through his blue hair. "You almost broke my legs, you almost broke my face, you almost ended my life... But no, you went the extra mile! You ruined my beautiful, beautiful hair!"

"Can it, ego boy," replied Kazooie as Banjo and Tooty both walked towards Silver, the male bear being the crutch he said he would be to the hedgehog. "We've got much bigger fish to fry."

"Besides, your hair doesn't even look that great anyway," added the grey-furred hedgehog.

However, Trophy Thomas had noticed the she-bear standing by Banjo's side, and so he missed the comment from Silver. He smiled at her, hoping for a positive reaction as he nodded to her, holding his arms out in an offering position.

"Hey, there, cutie," he said in a suave voice. "How're you doing?"

This look and phrase from the cheetah, rather than chaming Tooty, distressed the poor she-bear greatly as it reminded her too much of... them... Letting out a horrified scream, she ran behind Banjo, surprising even Kazooie as she screamed into her older brother's back.

"Banjo, keep him away from me!" she cried, her voice cracking in fright as Kazooie turned in her bag to see tears pouring down her face. "Keep him away! I don't wanna go with him!"

Kazooie glared at the cheetah before turning her attention to the she-bear. The cheetah, overly surprised, shrugged, and even Banjo could see the surprise behind the dark lenses of his sunglasses.

"What's up with her?" asked the cheetah.

Banjo shook his head, finally being fed up with Thomas' habit of hitting on every woman he saw. "First of all, that would be my long-lost sister I told you about," said the bear. "Second, L.O.G. seems to think she was _raped_ in the ten years she was gone. So if you scare her again, I swear I'm gonna find some way to hurt you!"

The cat looked at the bear, and he saw it fit to remove his shades, revealing deft teal eyes to those that cared to look (which was almost nobody at the moment). There was a silence for a good four minutes as the cat's shock wore off at Banjo's threat. Finally, he looked at Tooty with a soft expression on his face before going over to the girl. Here, he took off his shades and knelt down next to Banjo's sister. He offered the friendliest smile he could to her, and in a rare gesture of prudence he nodded to the bear, brushing a small bit of dust out of his hair as he regarded the little she-bear.

"Hey," he said softly in a tone that Kazooie didn't think the tigercat was capable of talking in. "You're Banjo's sister, huh?"

The bear nodded quickly, cobalt eyes sparkling in fear as the cat regarded her. Nodding quickly, she then noticed that the cat was nodding as he touched her shoulder. Strangely, there was nothing suggestive in his motions at all. "I'm sorry about that," he said. "I'm the best there is, but... I didn't think I'd scare you like that... Well... I just wanted to let ya know... that being the awesome guy that I am means that I can't hurt any girls that don't want me to touch them, okay? So don't worry; I'm not gonna touch you. Okay?"

Briefly, the bear nodded at this reassurance. With this, the cat patted Tooty's shoulder softly and stood up. When he walked away and saw that the female bear was coming out from behind Banjo, he smiled broadly.

"There ya go!" he said. "It's great to see you're not so shy there! I'm Trophy Thomas, by the way!"

With this, the cat turned to Banjo and Kazooie, leaving them both bewildered. "Well, now that you're sister's here... We've gotta hold a party!" he exclaimed to Banjo. "Because you're just that awesome! I'm gonna go get Mumbo and Humba and Bottles, and... well... I'll see ya at Mumbo's garage in a few hours!"

The cat turned to leave with a small smile. Unfortunately, what he did not count on was the fact that Silver's good foot was right in front of him. So, he tripped again, Silver backing away slightly as the tigercat stood up.

"Damn it, man!" shouted the cat. "Stop messing up my hair! You're gonna make the party less fun!"

As he turned to leave, though, Kazooie did not follow this up with one of her infamous quips of sarcasm. Confused, Banjo looked at Kazooie. Noticing the shocked look in her emerald eyes, he rose one of his eyebrows.

"Did he just..." asked the breegull in disbelief. "Did he... Was that prudence I just saw? From Trophy Thomas?"

Somewhere very far away, a diminished chord was heard playing as this question was--

"And don't answer that with whatever damn musical device you call that!" cried Kazooie into the sky, raising her clenched wing in the air.

Oh, come on! It's dramatic effect! I can't have a dramatic revelation without dramatic music, yeah?

"This isn't a Flash movie!" shouted Kazooie. "Now go back to narrarating the story, nerd boy!"

Yes, feather face. And before you say anything, you deserved that one. Anyways...

After this episode, Silver looked over to the breegull, both in confusion over why she had just been shouting at the air and why she was so shocked in the first place. Somehow deciding that the first set of concerns was not important, he moved closer to Banjo, using his telekineses to walk normally again.

"What're you so surprised about?" asked the grey-furred hedgehog, amber eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Mr. Trophy Thomas usually has too much ego..." replied Banjo with a shake of his head. "I can't believe he just knelt down and said all that!"

Tooty shrugged before looking at her older sibling. "In character or not, I'm just glad he did that," she said with a shrug as she rubbed some dry tears from her fur. "It makes me feel better."

Silver nodded as he placed a hand on Tooty's shoulder. "That's good to hear," he said.

"All right," said Banjo. "Let's go to Mr. L.O.G. and let him know!"

"Okay!" replied Silver and Tooty.

All four of them then moved to the L.O.G.'s video game factory, where Banjo was sure the creator of all games would be more than happy about this news that Tooty had returned.

* * *

"Yes, Satoru, I get it. Okay, okay. Well, I dunno how that would work, I mean, Microsoft is a little pushy, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't... What do you mean, take the Sega approach? They're not hurting that badly on the console market! Sega was stupid with how it handled its console marketing at the end! Okay. Oh, really? Huh. Okay, I'll see what I can do. All right. Goodbye."

The L.O.G. hung up, feeling a little less stressed than he did when he had told Banjo the remarkably awful news two days prior. Now that he had been contacted by Nintendo offices about the next Smash Brothers game and trying to get rights to Banjo and Kazooie for use in that, he wondered how Microsoft would take it.

This was interrupted by a small buzz, however, and then he looked to the buzzer.

"Yes, Andy?" asked the omnipotent computer.

"Oh, uh, you have a Banjo and Kazooie to see you, sir," said his secretary nervously. "And they say they have some... Tooty person... I dunno."

The L.O.G. violently convulsed upon hearing the name 'Tooty'. The convulsion was so bad he almost got a blue screen of death from how shocked he was. Looking down at the speaker, he hesitated before replying to his secretary.

"Bring them in..." said the L.O.G. uncertainly.

A few minutes later, knocking was heard on the door to his office. "Come in!" shouted the omnipotent computer.

And when the door opened, Banjo waltzed in with Kazooie in his backpack. However, when he saw a young female bear and a silver-furred hedgehog follow the bear into the office, he gawked. He was even more shocked by the fact that the female bear matched the description of Tooty that Banjo had given to him during their last adventure. Surprised, he teleported to where the female bear stood, and he leaned in, the shock showing in his otherwise usually emotionless screen face.

"You're... Tooty?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"Yes, sir," replied the female bear softly. "Are you the Lord of Games Banjo's been telling me about?"

Shocked as he was, the computer knew he had to keep up the conversation. "Oh, of course!" replied the computer as he looked to Banjo. "What I want to know is, how did you get back to your brother?"

"Oh, well, it's a long story, Mr. L.O.G.," said Banjo with a hand gesture. "It'll take a while to tell..."

"Oh, don't worry about that," said the creator of all games with a certain sound in his voice. "First, though, before you tell your story, why is Silver the Hedgehog in my office?"

The silver hedgehog was jilted out of a relatively calm state rather quickly, and he would have cut his psychic connection to his foot if not for the fact that he was using all of his willpower to keep that thing running. "How do you know who I am?" he asked.

"He knows everything, how could he not?" asked Kazooie flatly.

The grey-furred rodent nodded at this before looking at the Lord of Games. "Well, Kazooie found me somewhere," replied the hedgehog. "They say I could really use a cast right now; I twisted my ankle earlier."

Without a word, the omnipotent computer teleported out of the office. Silver and Tooty were both extremely baffled by this, but before they could comment the computer had teleported back in, and he dropped a foot cast on the ground. The hedgehog was surprised by this, and so he looked at the cast and at the computer back and forth.

"Well... uh... thanks..." he said, wondering to himself how people considered that thing safe as he looked at it.

"Now, how did you get Tooty back?" asked the L.O.G.

Banjo nodded as he put his hands in his pockets. "Well, it started when I got that emerald," he began.

He then proceeded to relate the story of how he had met Rouge in his dreams and how his friendship with her had resulted in Tooty's return to Spiral Mountain. Somehow, the mentioning of Rouge brought some of the bat's conversations that she had had with Tooty back to the she-bear, and the recollection was very welcome to the bear. Banjo's narrative had ended almost too, soon, however, for then there was a strange silence hanging in the air where the L.O.G. regarded the narrative.

"Wow..." he said with wonder in his voice. "And here I thought my intervention would actually do something..."

"Well, I appreciate what you did anyways," said Banjo. "I mean, if I hadn't met her, I would've still needed something to fall back on, yeah? I'm just so glad she's back."

"I can imagine," replied the computer. "Now I'm gonna have to call off the search."

The older honey bear nodded as he walked over to his younger sister and draped his arm over her shoulder. "Still, thanks for everything," replied Banjo with a smile on his face.

"So, was that all you wanted to come here about?" asked the L.O.G. simply.

Kazooie nodded. "Well, we got the cast for Silver, so that was the only other thing we needed. So, yeah, we're done, pong face."

There was a brief silence where nobody really said anything. However, at the sound of plastic softly patting another piece of plastic, all eyes went to the hedgehog from the future, who was holding the cast in his hand, confused over what was supposed to be done. There was a four second delay or so where he failed to notice everybody's eyes were on him, and when he finally noticed everybody looking at him he cast a confused glance, holding his hands up in his own defense.

"What?" he asked. "I don't know how to put this thing on!"

Kazooie glanced distastefully to the side as Banjo walked over to the hedgehog, took the cast out of his hand, and got down on his knees.

"It goes something like this," replied the bear. He lifted Silver's foot into the cast and then proceeded to close the thing up.

As soon as he did, the hedgehog released his foot from the telekinetic hold it had been on for almost the entire morning. He then took a few experimental steps to test how his foot fared in the cast, and when he saw that the footsteps he took were a little clumsy but in perfect condition, he nodded to them.

"Not as bad as I was expecting, that's for sure," he said insightfully. "Thanks!"

"No problem at all, Mr. Silver!" replied Banjo as he gave the hedgehog a thumbs up.

"Yeah, I think we're done here," said Tooty. "It was good to meet you, Mr. L.O.G.!"

The computer looked at Tooty with his screen sparkling in happiness. "Likewise," replied the computer. "I do hope things go better for you from here on out."

The group of four then turned to the door, Silver opening it with his hand and walking out. "Thanks again for everything!" replied Banjo as he and Tooty both walked out of the door.

When the door closed, the L.O.G. sighed contentedly, thinking about how great it was that after ten years Banjo had finally been reunited with his sister.

* * *

When Banjo, Tooty, and Silver had walked out of the L.O.G.'s game factory, Kazooie suddenly thought of something. She then leaned over Banjo, facing everybody.

"Hey, you know, I think sun face said something about a party when he left..." she said suddenly. "I wonder..."

Banjo looked over to Kazooie. "Why do you say that?" asked the honey bear.

The breegull simply shrugged, crimson feathers gleaming in the sun as she did. "I dunno," she said. "You wanna check out Mumbo's warehouse?"

"Sure," said Banjo. The male bear then walked off.

This left Tooty and Silver to glance at each other. The hedgehog simply shrugged before they both followed behind the male bear. Tooty was still bewildered by many things, including the appearance of Showdown Town and the fates of everybody she had known being entirely different from what she had remembered them to be. As she thought of this, the four of them then moved over to a rather large garage in one end of town, where Banjo and Kazooie had accidentally crashed their cart full of files into the wall a few days prior. Looking at the garage door, the bear knocked on it with three distinctive raps on the metal door.

"This is what Mumbo did after turning you guys into bees and stuff?" asked Tooty, bewildered by the size of the garage. "I mean... I didn't think he was a mechanic."

"I didn't think so either, Tooty," replied Kazooie as she crossed her wings in front of her. "And yet, here we are, knocking on his warehouse door."

"What else changed?" asked the female bear innocently.

"You'll see soon enough, Tooty," replied Banjo with a shrug.

The door suddenly opened, and there, much to everybody's surprise, they found Mumbo, Humba, Bottles, and Trophy Thomas all gathered around a small table where some assorted foods were left around. At seeing this, bear and bird both leaned forward, the she-bear's eyes widening in surprise as she saw Bottles and Mumbo there with the female shaman she knew nothing about. Silver, meanwhile, just stood there, quite surprised by how friendly everything seemed to be.

"Aha, I knew it!" said Bottles as he approached Tooty. "You are still alive after all these years!"

"B-bottles?" asked the female honey bear as the mole pulled her down to his level. "What're you doing here?"

"That's not really important, now, is it?" said Bottles nonchalantly as Mumbo also walked over to the female bear. "I just can't believe it! You're finally back after all these years!"

"Mumbo think that right," added the shaman as he looked at the female bear. "Bear sister finally back to bear. Mumbo think nothing else important."

"Yeah, we're just happy you're back!" Bottles chimed in. "We've all missed you!"

The bear could not help but smile at this, and before mole or shaman knew what had hit them they had both been hugged by the female bear as Banjo smiled on the scene. "Aw, I've missed you guys too!" she said, noticing that both Mumbo and Bottles had managed to put one arm around Tooty each.

"Humba not know new bear," said the female shaman. All attention was diverted to the shamaness as Tooty looked at the woman. Fear seemed to run through Tooty's cloudy blue eyes for a second, but she swallowed her fear as she let the two people she was hugging go.

"Oh!" said Banjo, running over to Humba as the shamaness looked at the female bear in curiosity. "Humba, that's my sister Tooty!"

The shamaness nodded as Tooty walked over to her. "And you're...?" asked the bear.

"Humba Wumba," replied the shamaness with a polite nod. "Nice to meet new bear."

Meanwhile, Silver had been standing just outside of the garage, nobody really seeming to notice him until Bottles had looked over to the silver hedgehog. Quickly, the mole went over to Silver and looked at him.

"And who're you?" asked Bottles curiously.

Silver was quite surprised, as he had been deep in thought during Tooty's introduction to Humba. Looking down at the mole, he tried to bend down but found that the cast on his foot made it hard to do so.

"Oh, me?" asked the hedgehog. "I'm Silver. Kazooie found me in some swamp place yesterday..."

"Oh!" replied the mole as jumped up and took the hedgehog's hand in his. No sooner was Silver able to say anything than he found himself being led into the garage by the smaller mole. This small thing did not evade Banjo's attention, and so as everybody looked at the grey-furred hedgehog the bear made a friendly gesture towards the psychic.

"Oh, Silver, you didn't come in?" asked Banjo.

"Well, you guys just seemed so happy that... well... I couldn't just butt in here," replied the hedgehog with a shrug. "You know?"

"Oh, come on!" replied Bottles, squinting behind his goggles

"Any friend of bear friend of Mumbo," replied the shaman with the skull face on his head. "Hedgehog welcome here too."

"Oh, thanks!" said Silver, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

The cheetah that had greeted the four of them to Showdown Town with a less than in-character welcome gestured towards the table. "Well, everyone's all here," said the cat. "So why don't we chow down, yeah?"

"For once, I can't say no to that," replied Kazooie, rolling her eyes as everybody moved to around the small table. "Let's chow!

Tooty had never remembered a time where there was so much friendship going around. Mumbo and Bottles still talked to her with smiles on their faces, the shamaness who identified herself as Humba was also quite friendly to her even though they had never met prior to the events that had torn her away from Banjo and Kazooie. She found that even the tiger who had been unintentionally malicious to her earlier was also quite friendly, if a little prideful and the subject of Kazooie's most biting sarcasms as of late. Even Silver was enjoying himself, even if he was not ready to admit to such. However, it was Banjo and Kazooie that really stole her mindset during that small get-together with himself and his friends. The bear had lovingly doted out on Tooty even when she did not want it, and even then it was not entirely unwelcome from the female bear's end. After all, the food was, well, as decent as any food gotten together under a tight schedule could be, and the company was incredibly friendly.

* * *

When the two bears, the bird, and the hedgehog had both gotten home to Spiral Mountain that evening, Tooty looked around the house.

"So, where do I sleep?" she asked innocently.

Banjo froze in place as Kazooie and Silver both looked over to the honey bear. Kazooie groaned as Silver raised one of his eyebrows.

"You mean you didn't plan out where she was gonna sleep?" asked the breegull in mild surprise.

"What?" asked Banjo with a shrug. "You really think that where my sister sleeps is first on my mind when she comes back home for the first time in ten years.?"

The female bear and the bird both looked at each other, the bear looking at Kazooie with an incredulous look on her face. With this, the bird turned back to Banjo. "Point taken," replied the breegull with a defeated expression on her face.

"Well, there is the extra mattress somewhere," said Banjo. "Let me get that out really quickly."

The male bear retreated into his room rather quickly, Silver looking over to the female bear as she looked after him.

"You okay after all that?" asked the hedgehog.

"It felt rather good, actually," replied the female honey bear with a shrug as she pulled at some strands of blonde hair. "I guess just talking with people made things a little better..."

Silver nodded at this, a pang of sadness suddenly hitting his being. "I... well, I wish my friends were with me right now. I just want their familiar faces in a land where I don't know anybody."

Their conversation was briefly interrupted as the bear came out of his room, dragging a mattress out of there with Kazooie helping him from he other end of the mattress. There, they set the mattress down by the couch as Banjo smiled softly.

"Yeah, we had to remodel the house when Grunty destroyed it this one time," replied Banjo. "So, we're going to have to re-add your room. Sorry about that."

The female bear shrugged. "I guess I'll sleep here until then?"

"Yeah, pretty much," replied the male honey bear.

"It's not that bad," replied Tooty as she shook her head. "Some people forced me to sleep on the floor in those ten years..."

Tooty looked down at the floor as she said this, and the mood darkened slightly as Banjo nodded solemnly. "I see..." said Banjo.

"Well, at least you'll be sleeping on a mattress tonight!" said Kazooie in an attempt to lighten the mood up again.

The female bear nodded at this information. "Yeah," she said, shrugging. "I still want bedsheets, though..."

"Of course," said Banjo, who retreated into his room again. He came out a few seconds later with a pillow and a few extra sheets in his arms. He then neatly set them down on the mattress that rested on the floor. "There we go!"

"Thanks, Banjo!" said Tooty as she yawned slightly.

Banjo chuckled good-naturedly as he gathered the bear into his arms. "Anything for you, Tooty," he said simply as he patted her back lovingly before letting her go. "I guess we're all kinda tired, yeah?"

Everybody else in the room nodded at this as Banjo let out a slight yawn. "Well, I'll see you guys in the morning. Good night."

"Night," said Tooty and Silver as the honey bear went into his room, Kazooie following him as he closed the door behind him.

The little she-bear then let herself fall on the bed, taking her shoes off and sliding her feet under the covers. Silver simply situated himself in the couch as he looked up at the ceiling of the room.

"So you come from the future?" asked Tooty, trying to be friendly to Silver.

"Yeah," he replied. "It isn't a very good future, though... I'm actually kind of glad I got to see the present."

Tooty raised an eyebrow at this. "Really?" asked the bear. "Why?"

"I'm not sure," replied the hedgehog. "I guess it's just that where I am in the future everybody was pretty much dead and the world was a wasteland. I never thought I'd see people having fun, let alone them not trying to scrape the ground for anything to eat."

The bear showed a great amount of surprise as he said this. Her expression then took on a more dismayed tone. "You know there are still some people that are scraping by trying to survive, right?"

Silver was silent for a brief period of time. "And why do you say that?" he asked.

Tooty shook her head, turning around so that she faced away from the couch. "I've been there," she said. "And I've seen so many others like myself trying to survive by doing things they shouldn't have to do. It's pretty terrible, you know. I was there, and it was... bad."

The hedgehog turned in the couch uncertainly so that he could look down on the bear with concerned amber eyes. "And you're out of that now," he said. "Just be thankful there's still a light in this place that you can escape to. I was in your situation, too, only I had no way of getting out of it except to go back to the past. So be thankful there's still happiness in this place."

The female bear listened to the hedgehog. She slowly nodded as sleep quickly overtook her. "Okay," she said softly. "Goodnight, Silver."

"Goodnight, Tooty," replied the grey-furred rodent as he turned back around so he was facing towards the ceiling again.

And the female bear fell asleep, taking Silver's words to heart as she did.


	18. Sechste Träume

And here is where things start getting really good again. Next chapter? Action sequences.

But for now, we're gonna have to deal with a dream sequence. So stand back, and watch as Rouge and Banjo... Well, you'll see...

* * *

Sechste Träume

_Much to Banjo's surprise, he found himself in a large room with a bunch of cages instead of the metal room he had become so accustomed to expecting. Rouge was outside one of the cages, and the instant the bear saw her he ran over to her and tackled her to the ground. The bat was caught off guard, but when she felt the strength of the honey bear's embrace she didn't fight back._

_"Oh, Rouge, it happened!" he said. "She's back!"_

_The bat's eyes went wide with this. "Uh, Banjo?" asked Rouge as she attempted to sit back up._

_"What is it?" asked the bear._

_It was then that he noticed the fear in her topaz eyes. He let her go instantly, knowing that whatever came next had to be bad._

_"It's Eggman," she said almost desperately. "We... Our exchange of Tooty caused a Chaos energy spike. Eggman saw this, and now... well... these cages speak for themselves."_

_The bear looked to the cages, and then he shivered in fright as he saw them. However, he was still confused, so he turned back to his companion with a strange kind of confusion alight in his sapphire eyes._

_"What else does it mean?" asked Banjo._

_Rouge gripped the heart-shape on her chest before speaking. "There's a really long explanation," she said. "But what it whittles down to is, Eggman knows where you are. And he's not gonna stop until he has your emeralds."_

_Banjo's eyes went wide with shock as he thought of the implications of this statement that really weren't implied. "Oh, no..."_

_The bat nodded to confirm her ursine companion's fears. "I managed to change the coordinates for the attack he was planning," she said. "With any luck, they won't find out until it's too late. That should be enough time for you to leave. Banjo, you've gotta get yourself, Tooty, and Kazooie out of there before his robots find you!"_

_Banjo only looked at Rouge with more concern on his face. "Wait," he said. "Where did you change them to?"_

_"They're heading east of you now," replied the bat. "They'll be there in the morning, too!"_

_"Wait, east..." said Banjo, looking up with a frown on his face. When something suddenly dawned on him, he looked down, gripping Rouge's arms with the fear eminent in his eyes. "Oh, no! That's where Showdown Town is!"_

_Rouge was confused by this sudden exclamation. "Showdown Town?" she asked. "What's that?"_

_"Oh, no..." he said, rubbing his head as he stood up and started pacing from where Rouge stood to one of the cages in the room. "It's where most of my friends are! I've gotta help them!"_

_The bat was alarmed by this sudden proclamation. She stood up and ran to the bear. "Are you crazy?" she asked. "You'll just get yourself in trouble!"_

_"I don't care!" replied Banjo as he turned to the bat. "If I can save my friends there, then I'll be fine!"_

_"Banjo, don't be so quick to act!" replied Rouge, concern laced all over her voice. "This guy has an entire army of robots on his side! You can't stand up to him with the current number of--"_

_"I don't care how many robots are there, or whether Eggman is with them or not, but I am not going to sit here letting my friends get hurt by this crazy doctor!" Rouge was startled by what the bear had half-shouted, but the bear barely noticed this as he continued. "If I can help my friends, then I'm going to do that, whether you want me to or not! I'm not gonna sit here trying to escape while they're in danger! I mean, they're my friends!"_

_Rouge was still shocked, more by the fact that the bear was more adamant than she was usually accustomed to with their conversations. Indeed, as Banjo looked at her wildly, the bat was bewildered by how upset he seemed to be. However, when she nodded and wrapped her arms around her ursine friend, the bear found it hard to stay upset, and instead blushed._

_"Then I'll support your decision," she said. "Just don't get caught, okay?"_

_"I'll try not to," replied the bear as Rouge let him go. "What else do you know?"_

_Rouge smiled. "Well, I also know that the Master Emerald is somewhere close to where you are."_

_The bear looked to his friend, surprise registering on his face. "Really?" he asked._

_"Yeah," she said. "Listen, when you get to, uh, wherever you escape to, head for the highest point you can think of and look for a floating island."_

_Banjo nodded, keeping in mind that the first thing to do after he and his friends had escaped was that they had to run to Cloud Cuckooland as quickly as they could. "I've got a friend who has some airships, so I could probably use that," he said. "And what's there?"_

_"Once you get to this floating island, look for a shrine," she said. "It shouldn't be hard to miss; it's the only building on the whole island. Once you're there, you'll find two people guarding the Master Emerald. Talk to them, and tell them that they need to move the island, or else Eggman's troops will come and take everything away."_

_"Okay," said the bear. "Are they Knuckles and Shade?"_

_Rouge nodded at this, figuring he had gotten his information from the omnipotent friend he supposedly had. "Yeah," she said. "Whatever you do, don't mention my name to Knuckles. If you do, you'll get your ass handed to you, I'm sure."_

_"Why?" asked the bear. "I thought you were friends?"_

_"Well, even with this, Knuckles still didn't like me all that much," replied Rouge with a shrug. "Guess it's because I kept on trying to steal the Master Emerald. And if you say my name to him now... well... I'm sure he'll be pretty pissed."_

_Banjo nodded, holding his hand to his head. "I can't believe this all happened because we got Tooty over to my end of the world... I... Did you know this would happen? And did you know he'd find out?"_

_Rouge shook her head, grabbing Banjo's hands. She then looked straight into his eyes, the bear noticing the light dancing around her eyes with a sincere lustre. She looked down at the ground for a second trying to find the best way to word her next few sentences. When she found a way, the bat looked back into Banjo's blue eyes._

_"That doesn't matter," she replied. "Eggman is Eggman, and he's still ruthless and he still would've found me out. Even if I had known... Even if I had the opportunity to go back in time to change things knowing that this would happen... Even with all that..." She paused, swallowing before continuing. "I... I would've done it all again."_

_The ursine's eyes seemed to glint in a faint hint of surprise as the bat continued. "It's not fair, what you had to go through... It's not fair at all... You didn't deserve to have your sister taken away from you for such a long time... Banjo... You're probably the kindest and friendliest person I've ever met in my life. I... Your smile is so... It's the kind of thing you want to see all the time. And even with all of this knowledge of what would have happened, I would've done everything like this, if only to see that smile on your face..."_

_Here, she abruptly turned away, taking her hands off of the bear's as she walked slowly away. "I don't deserve your friendship..." she said, sniffling slightly as tears threatened to billow out of her eyes. "I've been a traitor and a bitch to my friends. I always have. Ever since you came along, I've been better to them, but still... I'm a bad person, Banjo. You're too good to hang around me..."_

_There was a brief silence where Banjo considered what the bat had told him. The bat bit back tears as she waited for the bear's reply. When some thoughts had spiraled around his head for a long time, he made a strange realization. With this in mind, he walked over to Rouge and surprised her greatly with the most tender hug he could manage. This shocked her out of her state of distraction, but when she noticed the bear's smile out of the corner of her eyes she seemed to be put at some ease._

_"Don't talk like that," he began, voice seeping in tenderness as he looked down at his companion. "You may have been bad to your friends, but... What you did for me wasn't what any bad person would do. You brought my sister back, you told me about Eggman's plans to come straight for me... And the fact that you would've done the same thing even if you knew this was going to happen... You're not a bad person, Rouge. You're not a bad person, even if you've been bad to your friends. I couldn't think of anybody who deserves to be my friend more if I took Kazooie off of that list. Rouge... Don't think like that. Please."_

_Rouge was genuinely touched by what the bear had told her. Smiling, she turned around in his light embrace, and when Banjo felt her own arms wrapping around the bear's body, he found a small blush creeping onto his cheeks. However, when he looked down at Rouge he saw a similar shade of red showing through her own white fur._

_"Banjo..." she said softly._

_Both bear and bat blushed just a little harder when they realized just how close they were to each other. However, this time neither one of them was truly willing to let go of the other._

_It was so that they both leaned in, closing the remaining distance. Their hearts were beating at a speed most marathon runners would be jealous of as they leaned in close, the two of them closing their eyes._

_Finally, their lips connected softly and tenderly, and Banjo and Rouge both shared their first kiss._

_Their lips were joined for only around a half a minute, but to both of them it felt like they had kissed for an eternity. When the pair had finally parted, they looked at each other wth want in their eyes. However, Rouge simply hugged herself tighter to the honey bear, her head resting on his chest as one of her ears tickled his chin slightly._

_"Oh, Banjo..." she said softly. "I..."_

_The bear simply held the bat close to him, closing his eyes and sighing contentedly._

_"Rouge..." he said, unable to say much else._

_And they just held each other, letting the silence that pervaded the room say what neither of them could adequately put words to._

* * *

Rouge woke up with a dreamy smile on her face. Even behind closed eyelids, she felt rather happy that she had gotten to talk to Banjo.

But it was the kiss that had gotten her heart aflutter. She shifted slightly as her smile only intensified at the thought. She was definitely not expecting that things would get to that point, but when they did, it was entirely welcome for her. Maybe she had finally found somebody to love...

"So you're finally up."

The bat's eyes shot open at hearing Shadow's voice. She then sat up from where she had curled up the night before to sleep, and saw that the black hedgehog was up. Cream, Sonic, and Amy looked at him with concerned expressions on their faces as the black hedgehog looked at Rouge.

"I... I guess I owe you an explanation, don't I?" she asked.

"Well, since Sonic accidentally burned up that note you had when he tried to get it to me, yes," replied Shadow.

The bat nodded, glancing at the microphones as she did. "I... I guess I can talk about it in greater detail now..."

And then she started relating the story of what had happened when she met the easy-going honey bear from Spiral Mountain.


	19. Silver: Chapter 6

All right, welcome back! This time, we attempt to make Micheal Bay jizz in his pants by presenting a series of action scenes...

With tons of explosions!

And then, we move the plot along as well. So this is edition one of 'people running around looking for things'. Enjoy.

* * *

Silver: Chapter 6

The instant Banjo woke up, he ran into the kitchen to find that he had overslept a little again and finding Tooty, Kazooie, and Silver all awake and beginning their day. The kiss was temporarily pushed back in Banjo's mind as he realized that his friends were in ever present danger.

"Oh, morning Banjo!" exclaimed Kazooie a little more cheerfully than she usually did. "I was wondering when you'd--!"

"I don't have time for that," shouted the bear as he rushed back into his bedroom and tore his rucksack away from the coat rack roughly.

"Whoah, Banjo, what's the rush?" asked Kazooie.

"I don't have time to explain!" said the bear frantically as he ran towards the door. "Kazooie, I'm going to be in Showdown Town, and if I'm not back by noon, then I want you to take Tooty, Silver, and the Chaos Emeralds to the Jinjo Village!"

"Let me guess," replied Silver. "This 'Rouge' person told you something?"

"And bad things are gonna happen!" added the bear as he opened the door. "I'll be back as quick as I can, and if I'm not here by lunch, I already told you what to do."

With this, the bear ran out of the house, slamming the door behind him roughly. Kazooie and Banjo looked at him before Silver stood up.

"There's no way I'm letting him go alone," said the hedgehog. He trudged along to the door when Kazooie stopped him by standing in front of the door.

"No," said the breegull. "Not while your ankle is--!"

Before the bird could continue, Silver simply dashed out, nearly knocking the door clear off of its hinges. With a little help of his psychic powers, Kazooie watched as Silver followed Banjo to the portal to Showdown Town. There was a brief argument where the two had come together, but they had soon entered the portal together.

"Oh, dear…" said Tooty softly. "This isn't a good thing…

"You can say that again…" replied the breegull, who was less than impressed with these developments. "I just hope they know what they're doing..."

Tooty nodded in agreement as she looked down on her breakfast.

* * *

Silver and Banjo had both slid down the slope, and thankfully this time Trophy Thomas was not wandering around at the base of the slope. The hedgehog looked to the honey bear.

"You wanna split up?" asked the hedgehog. "It might get things done faster that way."

Banjo shrugged. "Whatever works. You go find some people and I'll find some more. Bring them to Mumbo's workshop; he's always in there, and he should have a few machines around somewhere."

"Okay, got it," replied Silver. "What… exactly did she tell you again?"

The honey bear looked at the hedgehog in desperation. "She said a robot army is going to invade! Now let's move!"

Bear and hedgehog then took off in two different directions. The silver-furred hedgehog only hoped that he would find somebody fast and before the danger that Banjo had foretold had arrived. The telepathic rodent knew the meaning of danger, and he knew this would be a small feat to put together, but he was sure that whatever happened could lead to a bad timeline, and so he was determined to put a stop to whatever was going to happen next.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly felt himself bump straight into somebody. Looking down, he realized he had just bumped into Trophy Thomas again. Bottles was standing right next to the cheetah, and as the overly egotistic cat stood up the hedgehog could feel the icy glare from underneath the sunglasses.

"What the hell is it with you?" he asked vehemently. "Why do you--?"

"I don't have time to explain!" replied Silver, undaunted by the prideful cat. "Listen, we've gotta get out of here."

"What?" asked Bottles from where he stood next to Trophy Thomas. "Why? I don't see anything wrong!"

"Banjo said something's going to happen!" replied the hedgehog. "And it isn't anything good, either!"

The cat shrugged at this. "Oh, him?" asked the cat. "Well… I dunno, but I always thought he did seem like a bit of an idiot."

Bottles' mouth was wide open at this revelation, shocked by the cat's truly low opinion of the honey bear.

"Excuse me!" replied Silver angrily. "How do you think he got Tooty back? And wouldn't you think the same person who brought her back would also tell him of stuff?"

The cat lifted his shades, winking at the hedgehog. "Well, she can always--"

Before the cat could finish, the hedgehog simply held his hand forward, and the blue rings on his gloves glowed as suddenly Trophy Thomas found himself surrounded in a turquoise aura. When the cat levitated from the ground on Silver's direction, however, he suddenly realized he had messed with the wrong person.

"Now will you shut up and listen to me?" asked Silver angrily as he held the cat telepathically in the air.

And right before the cat could reply, a loud explosion was suddenly heard. Silver, Bottles, and T.T. all looked to see a slight spot of flame from L.O.G.'s game factory where a shell had exploded against it. Before anybody else could reply, a bevy of explosions suddenly rang out, plumes of red flame flying from the sides of the factory.

"Oh, no!" said Bottles. "What's going on?"

"Robot invasion, that's what!" replied Silver as he let Trophy Thomas down quickly.

The cat was wide-eyed, so much that even with his shades on people could tell this was so. "Oh, damn it, now _I'm_ gonna look like the idiot here!" he groaned.

"You can save the self-pity episode for later," replied the hedgehog as he released his telekinetic control over the overly prideful cheetah. "Now, we've gotta get to Mumbo's warehouse, and fast!"

Without another word, the three of them took off running. However, they had not gotten quite so far when suddenly a bunch of robots came from nowhere right in front of them. All of them looked a bit like foot grunts if they had been invented by somebody quite intelligent, probably the Eggman that Banjo had told him about.

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Bottles as they ground to a halt. "This can't be good!"

Silver, being one to act fast instead of stand there in shock, put his telekinetic skills to use as he lifted the ringleader of the particularly small robots with his abilities. The robots were left to stand around in wonder before Silver launched the leader at all of the robots directly behind him. A loud series of explosions occurred shortly after as the robots behind were all obliterated. With a little collateral damage on the side, there was a path cleared for Silver to run through. Soon after, he grabbed Bottles and Trophy Thomas in his arms with the help of his psychokinesis, and ran right through the hole he had created in the robot group.

"Next time, don't say anything, do something!" replied Silver. "We don't have time for questions right now!"

The silver tinted hedgehog kept on running. However, Trophy Thomas spotted something through the corner of his eye that caught his attention. When he turned to look, he saw a floating robot that looked ready to shoot at them with a small turret gun.

"Look out!" he cried, indicating the robot to Silver.

Just after he shouted this, the robot let loose with a stream of bullets. Silver, getting a little frantic, began to move from side to side to dodge the rapidly oncoming projectiles. Bottles was thankfully short enough to stay out of the bullet's range, but Trophy Thomas found that a few of the bullets were flying straight into his hair and out, leaving a few singe marks that were easily noticeable amongst the blue on the rest of his head.

The hedgehog kept on running, and when the robot finally ran out of ammo, Silver launched Bottles at it telekintetically.

"W-w-w-wait!" shouted Bottles as he was sent flying at the robot.

Before anybody could do anything else, the mole had collided with the robot. The contraption then fell straight to the ground before exploding. Bottles was then left plummeting to the ground before Silver held his hand back up and held Bottles telepathically.

"I guess robots always break when you fling things at them," he said as he slowly recalled Bottles to his person.

"Yeah, let's not run into any more of those things," replied Thomas as he rubbed his head.

Bottles was dazed for a second before he came back within Silver's arms. Looking ahead of him, however, he saw the garage door to Mumbo's warehouse open.

"Wait, there's Mumbo's warehouse!" cried the mole. "We're safe!"

The silver hedgehog noticed this too, and he made a beeline straight for the open garage door. However, once he had run inside, he found that Bottles had spoken just the slightest bit too soon, for inside Banjo, Humba, and Mumbo were all trying to grapple with a rather large group of the robots similar to what had ambushed Silver earlier. Looking at this, the hedgehog let Bottles and Thomas down.

"You guys get to somewhere safe!" he commanded.

As Banjo noticed the hedgehog's entrance, T.T. and Bottles both ran away from Silver to heed his command.

"I'll handle these guys!" exclaimed the hedgehog, holding his hands in front of him.

The turquoise aura surrounded the robots again, and this time they were all sent levitating. Silver made sure that Humba, Mumbo, and Banjo were not in the group he had levitated, and then he turned around slowly, holding his hand behind him as he looked out to see a bunch more robots headed in their direction.

Letting out a yell, the hedgehog then brought his hands out, cutting off his psychic connection with the robots after he had his hands all the way in front of him. In response to this, the robots were sent flying out of the garage and out into Showdown Town proper, crashing into the robots that were trying to get towards the garage. While they were stunned, Silver brought his hands up in the air quickly, and just when the turquoise light surrounded the garage door Silver brought his hands down. In response, the garage door slammed shut with a loud boom, and darkness overtook the entire garage.

After a few seconds, a light went on, and then Silver was seen on his knees, panting from exhaustion as Banjo ran over to the telekinetic hedgehog.

"I hope you didn't push yourself with your powers," replied Banjo as Bottles and Trophy Thomas came out of the place they had hid behind to avoid the robots being flung.

"I didn't," replied Silver as his panting slowed. "Trust me, if I did, I would've passed out by now."

"Yeah, remind me never to be around you when evil robot armies come after me, thanks," said Trophy Thomas.

"So, you have any idea about what that was all about?" asked Bottles, holding his hand in front of him.

"Oh!" exclaimed the bear. "I got visited by that woman I saw in my dreams, and she warned me that Dr. Eggman was going to send his robots here."

"Strange robots after strange jewel?" asked Humba.

Banjo nodded. "Yeah, they are," he said. "They would've headed straight for me, but the woman was able to change the coordinates. I came just in time, it seems."

Bottles shook his head. "Couldn't she have sent it to some other place?" he asked irritably.

"She didn't know Showdown Town was here," replied the bear with a shrug. "I have a feeling that if she knew she would've changed it to somewhere else."

"Where strange jewel at?" asked Mumbo.

Silver shrugged as he finally had the energy to stand on his legs without too much trouble. "We left them at Banjo's house," he said. "That way Kazooie and Tooty can run away with the Chaos Emeralds if things get really bad here."

"Oh, speaking of that," said Banjo, drawing Kazooie's wrench from his blue backpack. "Mumbo, what's the best airship model you have?"

"Oh, bear want airship?" asked the shaman as he moved over to a certain part of the garage. "Here. Mumbo give you this."

The group of six advanced towards a rather large airship model that Banjo remembered constructing during his last confrontation with Grunty. The airship was rather large, and Banjo had found very little use for it as he found that the ship kept on travelling too far in the air. However, for the trip that Banjo supposed would take a while to get to Angel Island, he figured this model would serve his purposes well.

Slowly, the bear went up to the airship, admiring the many helicopter blades on it. Slowly, he touched the magical wrench to it, and a scarlet light surrounded the airship as Banjo did so. Smiling, he stored the wrench in his rucksack.

"I don't need it now," he said as he brushed his hands together. "However, I will need it later."

"Oh, so you were planning on doing a vehicle recall after leaving this place?" asked Bottles as he thought of this. "Why?"

"I'll tell you later," said Banjo. "For now, we've gotta get out of this town."

"I just hope nobody breaks this thing first…" replied Trophy Thomas uncertainly.

"Mumbo go get land vehicle," said the shaman as he walked towards another part of the garage.

The remaining five people walked into the center of the garage, and then the sound of an engine starting was heard as headlights came on from within the garage. Slowly, Mumbo drove a rather large car up to where the five others were, Banjo blinking as he recognized the shape.

"Hey, didn't this use to be Grunty's?" he asked perplexedly.

"Computer man gave witch's car to Mumbo," replied the shaman.

Banjo nodded as he walked to the car. "Things are about to get crazy," he said, grinning as he hopped on.

Uncertainly, the rest that were in the garage followed, Banjo, Bottles, and Humba all helping Silver climb into the car as they knew he could not aggravate his leg in this state.

"At least I won't need my telepathy to hold my leg up while I run," said the hedgehog as he shrugged.

All five of them were seated in the passenger seats which Mumbo had apparently installed since he had acquired the car. Banjo sat next to Silver, and they all faced the garage door, apprehension in their faces.

"So, we just break down the garage door?" asked Trophy Thomas.

"Mumbo pay for new door," replied the witch doctor. "This door too old."

"And besides, the robots might be outside waiting for us…" added Silver. "It'll help distract them."

"Humba hope we get to portal fast…" said the shamaness uncertainly.

The shaman nodded, looking at the door directly ahead of him as he put his foot on the gas pedal.

Within a few seconds, the pedal had been depressed by the shaman, and then the car raced straight through the garage door, knocking it down with an incredibly loud clang. Sure enough, there were a lot of robots waiting for the group to come out. However, the loud noise that had accompanied the door flying into the air and crashing down onto the ground provided enough of a distraction that Mumbo was able to drive the car head-on into the crowd of robots that had gathered. The car that used to belong to Grunty pretty much drove straight through the crowd and into a clearer patch.

"Whoah!" shouted Trophy Thomas, raising his hands in the air in glee. "This is totally radical, dude!"

"Can it!" replied Silver as he looked ahead of him. "We've still got plenty of things to blow up!"

And Silver was right, for then more of the flying robots that had fired bullets at them appeared again. Thankfully, they had a difficult time locking on to their moving targets as Mumbo kept on swerving around, so they had time to think of a plan. Silver glanced to Bottles briefly before Banjo stood up. Supporting himself against the guard rails of the speedy vehicle, he grabbed a strange grenade-shaped egg from within. He looked at it curiously, and then when he looked into the bag he found several more eggs in the rucksack

"Wow, I never though Kazooie kept these in here..." he said, scratching his head.

"Don't just look at it!" shouted Bottles desperately. "Throw it before Silver gets any ideas!"

The bear was briefly startled out of here. Quickly aiming, he tossed the grenade egg in his hands at the robot that was directly in front of Mumbo. An explosion rang out, and the group passed underneath the flames quickly. Not wasting more time, Banjo tossed another egg, this one slightly off the mark as it collided into a building.

"Damn it, let me try!" shouted Silver as he telepathically held the rest of the grenade eggs in the air right as Banjo had pulled a few more out of the rucksack.

The silver hedgehog then let the grenade eggs fly at the robots with his telekinesis, and then Banjo found himself ducking, the explosions passing over him harmlessly. Humba and T.T. had both just sat there, Humba too afraid to say anything and Thomas having too much fun to care as Banjo sat back down.

And then, just a few seconds after this episode, they saw the slope that led up to the portal to Spiral Mountain. It was in clear sight, and thankfully the robots had not seemed to notice it yet.

"Quick!" cried Silver, pointing to the slope. "Get over there!"

Mumbo turned the steering wheel very quickly, causing the vehicle to nearly tip over before it corrected itself. Before long, the group was travelling up the slope to the portal to Spiral Mountain. Safety was just within their reaches, and everybody was tense in anticipation.

"Come on... come on..." whispered Banjo as he patted the side of Grunty's car.

This would have had no effect on the vehicle's performance, but it made him feel better when they were out of Showdown Town and in Spiral Mountain. Silver was at the ready by the time they had gotten out of the portal, and he then telekinetically severed the wires to the control panel that governed the portal. The portal suddenly died on them, and Bottles was left to yell at Silver.

Or, he would have if not for the large robot that had rushed after them just after the portal had lost power. They suddenly noticed this robot on wheels going straight for them at a ridiculously high speed, such that if Silver had not used his telepathy on the robot immediately it would have run the car right over.

"Damn it, do something!" shouted the hedgehog as Mumbo noticed this and began to drive circles around the mountain that was the area's namesake. "I can't hold this guy back for much longer!"

The bear nodded, but when he looked into the bag to find more of the grenade eggs, he found that there were no more in the bag. Frantically, Banjo looked for anything that he could use as an improvised weapon.

"Don't just stand there, do something!" shouted Thomas as he looked behind him.

"I don't have any more grenade eggs!" shouted the bear in reply. "What do I do?"

This question was answered for him, however, for then an explosion happened at one of the robot's legs and it slowed down slightly. This was good for Silver, who now did not need to use as much telepathy to hold the robot back, but it was still threatening to overtake them with disastrous results. Banjo turned to face the shaman who was driving the automobile, looking at him desperately.

"Mumbo, can't this thing go any faster?" he cried.

"Mumbo drive car as fast as Mumbo can," replied the shaman as loudly as he could over the roar of the engine and the chaos being caused by them.

Another grenade shot was heard, however, and this time the robot was leaning over on its side, and now it was having difficulty keeping up with the car. Silver released his telekinetic hold, and panting softly he was glad when the robot now barely moved fast enough to keep up.

"Wait, where do those explosions keep coming from?" asked Bottles, pointing out something as they went around the mountain again.

Thinking about this, Banjo realized the mole was right; there was no really viable explanation for where the explosions were coming from, and so they would have to wait.

They did not need to wait much longer, though, for then a third and final explosion at the robot's legs destroyed one of the wheels. This in turn sent the robot tumbling away. Mumbo had turned a corner as soon as he could, however, so Silver saw no need to use his telepathy at all. The robot rolled right into a mountain, where a massive explosion billowed up from the rock. Mumbo slowed down, taking Grunty's car all the way to what Banjo realized had been the pathway to his house to see what was happening.

What he saw surprised him greatly; Tooty stood there with Kazooie in what he realized was breegull blaster position. The female bear looked up at Banjo and his friends, smiling as the bear jumped down from Grunty's car as Thomas, Bottles, Humba, and Mumbo all followed. Silver had hoisted himself onto Banjo's back, and as soon as he was on solid ground again he put his hands on his knees and breathed deeply.

"How did you learn how to do the Breegull Blaster?" asked Banjo immediately before Silver could complain about his telekinetic powers nearly exhausting him.

"Kazooie gave me one of those orbs the L.O.G. gave you guys..." replied the bear, letting go of the breegull as she shrugged. "I guess it helped in the end..."

Banjo bent down, hugging his sister lightly. "I'm glad it did," he said, patting her back.

Trophy Thomas looked at this scene with an unamused expression on his face. Thinking about what else there was, he crossed his arms in front of him, looking at the bear with slight disdain.

"So, what now?" he asked.

"Oh!" said Kazooie as she walked right up to the prideful cat. "Actually, we were just going to head to the Jinjo Village to hide when you guys showed up."

Tooty then held the Chaos Emeralds up from where she had put them in her pants. Banjo nodded to this, glad that his sister had taken his advice shortly before leaving.

"So what's the story now that you're here?" asked the breegull as she hopped into Banjo's rucksack.

"Okay," said Banjo, appreciating the company in his backpack. "So Rouge also told me that the Master Emerald is close to here."

Banjo's breegull friend gawked at this. "You mean, _the _Master Emerald?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yep," said Banjo. "I was thinking of going to Cloud Cuckooland, because she said we should go to the highest point I knew of to find it!"

Humba nodded to this. "Humba sense big heap energy," she said. "Such energy not here before."

Silver by this time had gathered his energy back. "Why don't we just Chaos Control up there?" asked Silver.

The honey bear shook his head and pointed at the depowered portal. "Because then those robots will trace us to here," he said.

"Yeah, I'd rather get caught later than sooner, thanks," added Trophy Thomas as he shrugged. "Besides, you destroyed our only way back to Showdown Town, so they'll have a hell of a time finding this place without that."

The grey hedgehog nodded at this. "So we go by foot then?" he asked.

Banjo shrugged as he began moving. "It shouldn't be that far," he replied. "Now come on, we've gotta get out of here before more of those robots come."

"What Humba and Mumbo do?" asked the shamaness suddenly.

Kazooie crossed her arms in front of her, a flat expression on her face. "What do you think, hut girl?" replied Kazooie. "All of you better come with us right now!"

Trophy Thomas had already taken this hint, and so he walked just behind Banjo and Tooty. Silver and Bottles followed behind them shortly after, and then after the two shamans looked at each other they shrugged and followed along.

* * *

It had been a lengthier trek to the bubble elevator to Cloud Cuckooland than Banjo had thought it would be. Especially a problem was that Banjo had suddenly remembered that most of the crew could not get up there without Kazooie's suction shoes. Thankfully, Silver had volunteered to go up first with Kazooie, and once he was there he was able to levitate the entire rest of the party to that point. It was quite a bit faster, and so the group moved over to what lay underneath the little arch that they had to pass under to access the bubble elevator.

When they saw the bubble, however, the entire rest of the group realized that Banjo and Kazooie were both not kidding that the elevator up to Cloud Cuckooland was in fact a bubble. Surprised, Silver went forward, and then pointed at the thing.

"You're seriously telling me this is what's going to get us up to Cloud Cuckooland?" he asked incredulously.

"Trust me, you haven't seen anything yet, parrot face!" replied Kazooie. "Just you wait until we actually get up there!"

"Humba think island in sky really strange," added the shamaness.

Trophy Thomas nodded as the rest of the group came forward. "But how the hell are all of us gonna fit in there?"

Banjo shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "I haven't checked with this many people before..."

"Well, let's find out, yeah?" asked Bottles as everybody moved close to the bubble elevator.

"Okay, on the count of three, we all jump in," said Banjo as the group gathered in a circle around the bubble and held hands. "One... two... three!"

The entire group then jumped right into the bubble. Somehow, it was able to hold all of them in it as it levitated into the sky shortly afterwards. Everybody found this awkward except for Banjo and Kazooie. Tooty, who was quite frightened, grabbed her brother's arm and held onto it, while Bottles did essentially the same thing.

Their trek up to the sky went on for a rather long time. Banjo guessed this was because of the weight of its load, but eventually the bear saw them pass right through a hole in a floating strip of land that had some way of heading to a mountain. The bubble then ejected the entire group onto the ground, which oddly enough seemed to be growing grass on it. From where they were, the group was able to see a golden pyramid, a purple mountain with a bee hive on top, and a whole bunch of flowers scattered all over more floating platforms than the mind could take. Silver gawked at this, shocked at how everything seemed to look in this strange place.

"W... what the hell is this place?" he asked uncertainly.

"Oh, I dunno," replied Banjo with a shrug.

"But it's so... nonsensical..." added Bottles as he pointed out into the strange structures that he was seeing.

"Yeah, well, get used to it, goggle boy!" crooned Kazooie sarcastically.

Humba had looked around her when she suddenly noticed a small shape far off in the clouds.

"Huh?" asked the shamaness. "Strane floating rock not there before..."

All eyes turned to Humba, and then to the mysterious rock that she had seen. It was partly obscured by clouds, however, so Banjo squinted to look at the floating rock in greater detail. As the clouds cleared, however, he found himself opening his eyes in a slight shock.

"Wait a minute..." he said.

And then, when the clouds cleared, they saw a body of land that floated in the air. It was all supported by a large upside-down mountain of dirt that seemed compacted in place. On top was so much green that they could only be trees.

The honey bear assumed the best and pointed at the floating rock.

"That's it!" he exclaimed excitedly. "That must be Angel Island! That's where we have to go!"

"Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah!" replied Trophy Thomas, holding his hands up quickly. "Are you sure it's the right place, dude?"

Kazooie shook her head, shrugging. "Sorry Banjo, but I gotta agree with sun face over here," she said shrugging. "How do we know it's the right place?"

Mumbo then walked forward, motioning to the island with his staff. "Mumbo sense great power from strange floating rock," he said. "Mumbo think big thing there."

"The Master Emerald..." added Silver just under his breath.

Tooty nodded at this. "Okay, so we know where we need to go," she said with a nod. "Now, how do we get there."

"Ah!" exclaimed Banjo as he raised his finger. "Kazooie, the vehicle recall!"

The breegull's eyes widened as she brought her magic wrench out from the bag.

"We're going to be doing the machine thing again?" asked the breegull.

Bottles shrugged. "Well, that's only if you wanna fly all the way over there while carrying all of us," he said sardonically.

Everybody looked to the usually mild-mannered mole in surprise. Silver, who was still unused to the inhabitants of the present, had simply stared at the mole, wondering why everybody was confused.

"Point taken," said the breegull simply.

She then waved the wrench in the air, and as a red aura surrounded it, the airship that Banjo had set to the recall earlier then appeared close to the bubble elevator. The airship gleamed in the sunlight, the brown paint scheme glinting brilliantly high atop the world. A bunch of helicopter blades were apportioned on top of the rather large vehicle, and there was so much room inside that it was sure to fit everybody quite well. However, they noticed that the propellers that adorned the top of the airship had been tampered with, most likely by the robot army that had taken over Showdown Town, so Banjo was quick to run over. Silver simply shrugged.

"I guess this is the best we could do," he said with a shrug. "I'm just glad these robots didn't do anything else to this thing..."

"Can it, parrot face," retorted Kazooie from her place inside Banjo's backpack as she held up the wrench. "It'll be just a quick repair job! Look and see!"

And then Kazooie waved her wrench in the air again, and this time a red aura surrounded the helicopter blades. Slowly, the blades were mended together, and then when they looked completely fixed the breegull stopped waving her wrench around. Everybody looked at this in amazement as Banjo turned to them.

"Well, what're we waiting for?" asked Banjo as he jumped into the airship.

Tooty was the first one to run to the airship, the rest hesitating slightly. Then, Silver, Trophy Thomas, and Bottles climbed into the airship, followed by Mumbo and Humba. They all nodded to Banjo, and then the ship was off, flying off towards the flying rock that they were sure was the home of the Master Emerald.


	20. Lord of Games: Chapter 7

All right, I think Mr. Bay would be proud.

But this also led to an interesting fact. I posted in my Facebook status how I wondered how many musical 'explosions', so to speak, it would take to get Micheal Bay to listen to classical music. One of my friends commented, and it turns out his wife worked with him once. How the hell did that happen? I dunno. I'm just a little wierded out, especially because he referred to Mr. Bay by 'He-who-must-not-be-named'. I never knew Micheal Bay was an evil overlord of dark magicians! For that matter, I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition either...

Anyways, enough soliloquizing about Micheal Bay. (Damn the new Transformers movie for putting me in a Micheal Bay craze!) Now, we move on to much more serious problems. Mainly, that our omnipotent creator friend has somehow gotten captured...

* * *

Lord of Games: Chapter 7

"Oh, silence, you crazy bots! I'll have you destroyed, lots and lots!"

"Shut up, Grunty! You're not helping our case any!"

"You should shut up too, you great sack of poo. You get to hurt me then, now you've tipped the writer's pen!"

"PERCENTAGE OF SENSE MADE BY STRANGE WITCH PERSON: 0%. SUGGESTED COURSE OF ACTION: SILENCE STRANGE WITCH PERSON."

And before the partially mechanical witch could reply angrily, the robot guarding the both of them had knocked the witch over, effectively silencing her as her head hit the glass that protected her head from wandering away.

The Lord of Games was not happy at all.

It had started that morning with the destruction of Showdown Town. His video game factory had essentially been blown to smithereens right as he had hung up the phone from a talk with Hajime Satomi about a possible sequel to Space Channel 5. This would not have been so bad if not for the fact that somehow some robots were immediately able to close in on the essentially omnipotent lord. The results of that were seen in a strange black cuff that was around his neck that had cut off his godlike abilities, except for being able to levitate off of the ground. Somehow, the ability to fly had not been cut off by the cuff, but he sadly missed every other one of his powers.

But in his opinion, the worst thing that came of this was that Gruntilda Winkybunion had also somehow managed to survive the explosion. Ever since this revelation, the witch had been spouting her horrible rhymes left and right, even as they were being transported to enemy headquarters by the robot guards that were surrounding the two of them. He also wished that he still had the power to silence Grunty just by looking at her, as she was beginning to prove overly annoying with all of the horrible rhymes.

The computer looked outside, Pong eyes emotionless as he looked out of the only window in the craft that was taking them to the enemy base. The sky was clear and blue as they sailed along, a complete counterpoint to what had happened in Showdown Town earlier. The creator of all games thought of how ironic it was that evil had triumphed in his own quiet home where Banjo, Kazooie, and Grunty had faced off just two years prior. He sincerely hoped the bear and bird were safe from the clutches of whoever had captured him.

The identity of this person who captured him and Grunty would soon be revealed, the L.O.G. knew without a doubt. He was expecting a certian megalomaniacal doctor from a certain Sega series, however, mostly because of the Chaos Emerald that Banjo and Kazooie had found and also because of the appearance of Silver the Hedgehog in Spiral Mountain.

He thought about all this as he was being carted away, the cuff beginning to become uncomfortable on his neck as the vehicle he was in moved ridiculously fast.

* * *

Eventually, both the L.O.G. and Grunty were brought out of the aircraft and into some high-tech base with uninviting metal walls. Most of it was inhabited by robots, so as they moved along the L.O.G. wondered why the base was so needlessly large.

Eventually, he and Grunty were both roughly tossed into a large control room with too many buttons for the creator of all games to count. Sitting in a chair in front of a window was a rather fat man in a red cloak that the L.O.G. recognized instantly.

"Dr. Eggman..." he hissed silently as the doctor turned in his chair to look at them.

"Ah, so you're the survivors of that town that my robots raided," said the doctor. "And I also see that you know who I am."

"I'm the creator of all video games, of course I would know that," replied the computer, voice somehow oozing with acid.

"There is one thing I don't quite know yet, what in the world did you go there to get?" asked Grunty.

The L.O.G. wished that he had hands to facepalm with as the doctor looked at the skull-faced witch curiously. The doctor simply shrugged as he walked over to them.

"I came over there for your Chaos Emerald," replied the doctor.

Surprise seemed to flash across the L.O.G.'s screen, but it went by so fast that the doctor did not notice it.

"Chaos Emerald?" he asked. "I know what that is, but it's not in my posession."

"Really?" asked the doctor, tugging on the cuff roughly.

"Yes," replied the computer defiantly. "You can check the rubble of Showdown Town. Someone else had it."

The doctor smacked the computer monitor hard. Grunty flinched slightly as the computer was sent falling, and then the doctor picked the computer up by the cuff, his fist raised in front of the omnipotent computer.

"Listen here, you nasty stuck-up twit!" replied Eggman. "I've worked too hard for more years than I care to count to be able to take over the world, and your smart-aleck attitude isn't helping anything! Now you will tell me where that emerald is, or so help me God I'll punch right through your monitor!"

The threat was so strong that even Grunty was shocked by this, her body leaning back as her head seemed to roll back what with it not actually being attached. It was then that Grunty noticed the gleaming jewels. Realizing that they could be a power source, she cast her hands up.

"Oh, shut your trap, you crazy man, this spell I have now will change you to a can!"

As the doctor turned around and noticed the sparkles around the witch's hands, he quickly jumped to the side, the L.O.G. being tossed to the floor as Grunty's spell missed. Eggman, not to be deterred, grabbed a wrench from the shelf, and with a great amount of speed he slammed the wrench into the glass case that kept Grunty's head close to her body.

The impact forced Grunty's body to tip over, and then her head rolled away from her mechanical body as she let out a horrifying scream. This scream was echoed in the room that the glass panels looked into, but the witch was not focusing on that as she tried to get back to her body. However, this proved to be impossible as then the mad scientist grabbed the head by the chin and held it up so the witch could look right into Eggman's goggles.

"Real clever play," he said. "Real clever play."

"Save him I must, you crazy nerd, I won't get any chances to beat that bear and bird," replied the witch, still talking in bad rhymes even though she was in great pain.

"Grunty!"

Eggman simply smirked as he held the head a little farther away. "Oh?" he said. "This is new. Bear and bird, huh? I must thank you for helping me out here. I now know to look out for a bear and bird. But I'll still search the rubble of your precious town just in case. In the meantime..."

The doctor then roughly cast the head to where the L.O.G. was, Grunty reeling a little from the force as Eggman walked to his console.

"Guards!" he shouted into an intercom system. "Take the two prisoners from that town and throw them in with the rest of those animals!"

Pausing for a brief bit, the doctor then thought of something else he could do.

"Oh, and also, make sure that nobody leaves that room," said the doctor. "I'll be going on a brief holiday to where that little town was, and when I'm back in two days I want them still in there!"

After this, a pair of robots walked in, and then they grabbed both the omnipotent computer and the witch's head roughly. They then led the lord and carried the head through some corridors before they arrived in a room with faces that the L.O.G. recognized as characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. Sonic, Amy, Cream, Shadow, and Rouge were all in there, and all they needed was Silver and Knuckles to make the set complete. With a strange kind of brutal strength the computer did not know robots could have, he was tossed into the only empty cell in the room like a rag doll on his own, and then the head was tossed into the same cell as a bat that the L.O.G. figured was the bat that Banjo had talked to in his dreams.

When the robots left shortly afterwards, the eyes of every other occupant in the room were drawn first to the computer, and then to the witch's head. They were all drawn by the fact that Grunty was moving again even though she had been reduced to merely a head in her sorry state of affairs.

"How the hell are you able to survive while just being a head?" asked the black hedgehog.

"Don't swear at me, you night-faced crone, I survived eight years buried under stone!"

Rouge, who was right next to the witch as she said this, winced. Cream, Amy, and Sonic followed suit shortly afterwards.

"Dude, you don't insult Shadow and expect to get away with it..." added Sonic uncertainly.

"And you too, you blueish thing, or I'll have you reduced to a mere ping!"

Rouge shook her head. "What, barred behind cages as we are?" she asked, her wings shifting a little. "And also, I don't think there's much you can do without a body."

The head jumped up a little, bouncing around in the cage. "That much is true, I can tell you that, but unfortunately for my my body's gone 'splat'!"

"Oh, come on, Grunty," replied the L.O.G. with an unamused tone in his voice. "He just took a wrench and broke your glass carrier. That's hardly what I would qualify as going 'splat'."

Cream shook her head, rolling her eyes. "I don't know, with rhymes like that I think she's starting to get desperate."

"Or it could be the narrator trying too hard," muttered the L.O.G. uncertainly.

"The who?" asked everybody else in the room sans Grunty as all heads turned to the omnipotent gaming lord.

"Never mind," he replied, shaking his head around, noticing the absence of his pet mice. "It would take too long to explain."

Everybody in the room nodded except for Grunty, who mysteriously knew what the creator of all video games was talking about.

"So..." said Amy uncertainly. "What did you guys do?"

"Us?" asked the L.O.G. "We were just in a town that he invaded earlier today."

Rouge nodded, seeming to understand what he was talking about even though he had not explained everything. Confused, but currently not in the mood to talk much, he dropped the subject.

Unfortunately, the bat had no such plans. "I know why he did that," she said. "They're after the bear now, aren't they?"

The L.O.G.'s computer face looked to Rouge briefly, surprise and then understanding flickering on his screen. "Ah, so you're that bat that Banjo was talking to?"

Surprised and shocked by this, all eyes darted straight to Rouge in the opposite end of the room. Rouge herself expressed quite a bit of shock at this revelation as she looked at the computer with wide topaz eyes.

"Wait... You're that friend of his who knows everything, aren't you?" she asked, pointing at the L.O.G. for confirmation.

"Close to everything, yes," replied the lord as he tried to make himself comfortable in the small cell but failed. "I at least know who all of you are, so you won't need to introduce yourselves. Lord of Games, at your service. You all can refer to me as L.O.G., though."

Rouge frowned slightly, thinking about this. "Wait, aren't you also all-powerful?" she asked.

"Well, yeah..." replied the L.O.G.

"Well, if that's so, why can't you just warp us out of here?" asked Sonic, his tone of voice slightly incredulous. "I mean, that would be pretty easy, yeah?"

The L.O.G. looked away, showing the cuff on his neck to the rest of them. "I would, but this thing around my neck isn't letting me," he replied tersely.

"Serves you right, you freeloading prick! That's what you get when it's me you kick!" cried Grunty from where she was.

Shadow groaned in annoyance, giving his voice to how annoyed he was by Gruntilda's bad rhymes.

"Just, shut up!" replied the black hedgehog. "I've only heard four of those rhymes and already I'm sick of them!"

"You think my rhymes are bad? You'll see who's worse here, you worthless cad!" protested Grunty obnoxiously.

"No, seriously, stop the rhymes!" shouted Amy, covering her ears as Sonic did the same.

"Please, Gruntilda, you're already getting worse than Amy's 4Kids voiceover," added the L.O.G.

Amy, who somehow knew she was the one being referred to, turned to the Lord of Games with a grimace on her face. "_What?_"

"You think I can be silenced that quick? I'll give you something else tied with a brick!" exclaimed Grunty. "And if you all say otherwise, I'll have you tied up in a vise! And if you don't do as I say, I'll make sure you don't get your pay! Understand, you measely--?"

Rouge, having had quite enough of this, abruptly and without warning shoved her foot into the witch's head. "_Shut up already!_" she cried as her foot slammed against the bars.

The witch's head was then in direct contact with the bars, and then sparks were sent flying as the witch screamed in agony. When Rouge took her foot away about ten seconds later, the head reeled back before falling back into the cage on its side. Grunty had endured a singe mark to the face, and her eyes had closed, signifying unconciousness.

"Thank you!" cried everybody else in the room.

Rouge shook her head at the witch head that was in her cage. "I couldn't have been happier doing anything else at the moment," she said as a wry smile formed on her lips.

"Who was that annoying woman, anyway?" asked the black hedgehog. "I'm beginning to think someone should have exterminated her a long time ago..."

"She would be one Gruntilda Winkybunion," replied the L.O.G. As he heard Rouge snicker a little at this, he continued. "She was an evil witch who tried to steal one little bear's beauty, then tried to get revenge on that bear's older brother when he saved the day with a bird who lives in his backpack, failed not once, not twice, but three times to do so, and is now under my servitude. Or, was, before my town was blown up by those bloody robots."

Rouge's ears perked up. "Speaking of that, why hasn't Eggman come in to interrupt us yet?"

"Why would he need to?" asked the L.O.G., suddenly slightly confused at this.

"He comes in to yell at us all the time," replied Sonic, his face going down as Amy held his shoulders. "You'd be really surprised, L.O.G. He comes in here and talks about how he's gonna finally take over the world and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it... It's... you know?"

The computer nodded as he let a silence sink in as the hedgehog shrugged in defeat, Amy shaking her head as she pulled Sonic to her body.

* * *

A few hours of idle conversation later, sleep was slowly beginning to overcome everybody in the room. Cream was the first one to fall asleep that night, falling asleep on Shadow's belly and using that as a sort of makeshift pillow. The black hedgehog looked a little peeved, but he stayed perfectly still so the rabbit could get her sleep.

But then the thing that really surprised the L.O.G. was what happened when Sonic and Amy had both fallen asleep. The blue hedgehog had layed down first, his head facing the ceiling of the room. Amy then rested her head on Sonic's chest, and instead of rejecting that contact like the computer would have expected him to do he drew her head into his arms, the pink hedgehog's own arm resting across the male hedgehog as they both smiled almost contentedly. Confused, the L.O.G. turned to Rouge.

"Since when has this been going on?" he asked as quietly as he could.

Rouge nodded and shrugged slightly. "It's a long story," she whispered across the room. "But that's what's been happening for a while now."

Seeming to be satisfied with this explanation, the L.O.G. nodded before Rouge herself laid down on the floor of her cell. Her eyes closed droopily, her hands under her hand as she smile expectantly.

It was at this most inappropriate of moments that Grunty had decided to wake up, as the clatter of a skull jumping on metal floor attested to.

"That was not--!"

And before Grunty could even get the fourth word in, Rouge's leg had darted out so that Grunty's skull had once again hit the cage's bars. She then released the foot almost instantly, shocking the witch out of what she was going to say.

"Just shut up and go to sleep or you'll be getting that for twenty seconds," said the bat sleepily.

For once showing just a little prudence, Grunty said nothing, knowing that Rouge would follow up on that threat without having to think about it. Eventually, her own eyes closed as she too, fell asleep (albeit with one of the loudest snores in history).

The L.O.G. looked upon the rather serene scene, a soft glow emanating from the computer monitor that was his face before he offlined for the day, far from home but not from fairly reasonable company.


	21. Siebente Träume

And last chapter, we saw Grunty, who's going to play a ridiculously low role in his fic. So while that was going on, where did Banjo go?

Well, this chapter answers that, with a dream sequence! Away Banjo/Rouge romance!

* * *

Siebente Träume

_Rouge found herself in a wooded vale this time. She recognized the forest as being that which was on Angel Island, and the instant she saw this she knew that Banjo had managed to get away from the robots that would have attacked his home._

_Indeed, the honey bear was sitting off to the side, looking up at the stars that twinkled above them with great beauty. Rouge noticed this too, and then she looked down at the honey bear and noticed how different he looked in the moonlight._

_"So you made it out of there after all," began the bat as she walked over to him._

_"Yeah," replied Banjo as he gestured towards her. "I got four of my friends out of Showdown Town, too."_

_"Oh, did you?" asked the bat s she sat down, leaning back against the same tree that Banjo was leaning over. "That's great!"_

_Banjo nodded. "We still haven't found the Master Emerald yet, though..." he added. "We're camped here for the night, so once we wake up we're going to look for it..."_

_The former G.U.N. agent nodded as she brought her knees up to her chest. "Don't worry about that yet, Banjo," she said. "I'm just glad you didn't end up like the Lord of Games or Gruntilda."_

_Banjo nodded at this. However, when the full meaning of her words hit him, he turned around, shock written on his face as he scooched slightly to the side._

_"You mean he's got L.O.G. and Grunty?" asked the bear, his blue eyes wide. "Are they okay?"_

_Rouge nodded. "They're okay, although I wonder why you asked about Grunty," she said. "L.O.G. seems like a really nice guy, too. It's too bad we were all behind bars... And as for Grunty, her rhymes really were as bad as you said the were. And they got on Shadow's nerves so badly that I ended up having to shove her into the bars with my foot over and over again."_

_The honey bear rubbed his chin in thought. "Let me guess," he said. "You two are in the same cage, and she's been reduced to merely a head again."_

_The bat nodded as she leaned closer to her ursine lover. "Pretty much," she said. "It's easy to kick her around like that, you know?"_

_Thinking about how he, Mumbo, Humba, and Bottles had all played catch with Gruntys head after their second adventure, the bear chuckled. "I know what you mean," he said._

_The two of them looked up to the night sky shortly afterwards, letting the silence speak as Banjo draped his arm over Rouge's shoulder._

_"It's such a beautiful night right now..." she said. "I wonder why I never cared to venture out of the base just to see the stars..."_

_"Yeah, these stars are beautiful..." said Banjo. "I wonder... how well do you know this place?"_

_Rouge shrugged. "I'm not sure," she replied, her gaze still inspired on the stars. "But it's a real lovely place, that's for sure. I think Knuckles got lucky that the Master Emerald was situated here. I mean, it's a lovely island..."_

_"Hm, I dunno," replied Banjo with a shrug. "I guess it's because I've lived close to a mountain all my life, but I find this place to be a little too... well... woody..."_

_The bat raised her brows in curiosity as she heard this. "You lived by a mountain?" she asked._

_"Yeah," replied Banjo. "They call it 'Spiral Mountain', where I live. I live in a small house close by, too. It's a nice place; it's by itself, mosty, and it's quiet. I'm sure you'd love it there..."_

_Rouge shifted slightly where she sat, looking up at the stars intently. "Well, I do suppose it would be a great change from city life where everything moves way too fast..."_

_The bear nodded, clasping Rouge's hand in the hand that was not draped over Rouge's shoulder. With eyes shining of sapphires, the bear turned to look his lover straight in the eyes._

_"You know, Rouge..." he said softly in a voice that made Rouge swoon slightly. "I... I feel really... well... like something's wrong with me right now... and... I don't know..."_

_Rouge scoffed at this idea, her head revolving on her neck as she laughed softly. "Oh, come on," replied the bat as she playfully shoved Banjo in the chest. "You've gotta give yourself a little more credit than that, Banjo! You've been doing wonderfully in the area of small talk so far!"_

_Banjo nodded, pulling Rouge closer to his person as he did. "Thanks, Rouge," he said, taking his other arm around the bat's body. "It's just I've never felt this way towards somebody before..."_

_"Not even Kazooie?" asked Rouge as she melted into Banjo's embrace._

_"Kazooie? Ew!" he exclaimed, making a disgusted face. "She's like a sister to me! I wouldn't think of doing things like _that_ to her even if I was bribed to!"_

_The bat laughed good-naturedly as she sat on Banjo's lap. "Yeah..." she said._

_"Have you felt this way before?" asked the bear._

_The former G.U.N. agent's smile fell slightly upon hearing this, and when Banjo saw this his eyes seemed to gleam in some kind of understanding sadness._

_"Yeah," she said. "But it was completely onesided. You know Knuckles?"_

_Banjo nodded, pulling the bat closer. "What about him?"_

_"Well, I had a crush on him at one point," she admitted softly as her fingers touched Banjo's chest fur lightly. "I dunno. I guess it started with the first time I tried to steal the Master Emerald. After that, I just noticed a lot of things about him; he was strong, he was handsome, and he was devoted to what he did. Only problem was, he was stubborn, angry, and a dimwit."_

_The bear glanced to the side before looking back down at Rouge. "That's what Kazooie sometimes says to me when she gets angry. A dimwit, I mean."_

_Rouge shook her head, probably in slight denial. "You can be a bit slow, but I know that for one thing you're usually much sharper than Knuckles ever will be," replied the bat with a slight chuckle. "I mean, I talked about a mad doctor when we first met, you took it as a bad sign. But you waited for me to make a case for myself, and, well, here you are, safe from Eggman's robots. Knuckes? Oh, boy..." She snickered briefly, but this was audible to the bear and he knew something was coming. "All you had to do was say 'someone's trying to steal the Chaos Emeralds' and he'd be after the wrong guy pretty much instantly. He doesn't look into it or anything; he just takes a person's word for it and doesn't budge even if there's strong evidence to the contrary... Basically, if you and Knuckles had switched roles, this world would already be doomed."_

_Banjo couldn't help but chuckle at this bit of harsh humor against the echidna he had yet to meet. His expression softened soon after, though, as Banjo looked down. "So why didn't things work?"_

_"Well, for one, there's the problem with his stupidity," she replied. "There's also the fact that he hates me for trying to steal the emerald. And then... he found his own woman or something."_

_The ursine was quite surprised to hear this. "He found his own woman?" he asked. "But... his bio said he was the last of his..."_

_When he thought about it a little more, however, he suddenly realized that the bat was right. "It's Shade, isn't it?" he asked._

_"Yes!" replied the bat, pointing a finger at him. "When she came along, everything changed. I was right by him to see it, too. Shade... well, she completely changed Knuckles. I think he actually had a little more hope at finding that he wasn't the last of his race after all. And then Shade changed too, for... well, you know why at this point. But by the time our journey ended, I had seen that Shade and Knuckles had... well, they hadn't said anything, but I think they must've hit it off if the way they were looking at each other says anything..."_

_Banjo nodded. "But that's not the biggest reason, is it?" he asked, trying to probe a little more into why this bothered her so much._

_"Well, no..." she replied, her voice hushed from some kind of strange fear. "I mean... well..." Here, she seemed to be falling apart a little._

_The bear was silent as he regarded this. "Is it something you don't want to talk about?" he asked._

_"No," replied the bat as she hugged herself and pulled herself together. "You deserve to know. I mean, after all, you told me everything and I haven't told you much at all. Well... it happened just before our confrontation with Ix. You know that, right?"_

_"Yeah," replied the bear. "What is it?"_

_"Well, I wanted to go with Knuckles' group so I could be close to him," she said, tearing up slightly. "I had known by then that Shade and Knuckles had something going on romantically, so this was going to be the last time I ever planned to be next to him. And you know what he said, Banjo?" The bear shook his head as Rouge looked at him, the tears marring some of her make-up. "He had already started being more openly vehement against my person, even when I didn't do anything. I knew it would reach a breaking point eventually. But I didn't think it would come that soon."_

_"What did he say?" asked Banjo, his hands going to touch Rouge's shoulders as he looked her directly in the eyes._

_Her gaze did not wander away as she said her next few words. "He... he said he'd rather hand the Master Emerald to Ix than travel 'with a slut like me'. And I quote those last few words, too."_

_"Oh, Rouge, that's terrible!" he said. "And then after you defeated Ix?"_

_The bat glanced to the side sourly. "After that was when Sonic got captured," she said. "At that point, it was me, Shadow, Knuckles, and Shade against Eggman. And I was still souring over what Knuckles said to me. So..."_

_The bear picked up on the hint Rouge was trying to give. "So your joining Eggman was more than just over profits," he said._

_Rouge shook her head, and Banjo realized that he had taken the hint the wrong way. "Profits was one of the things I joined him for," she replied. "I mean, the Chaos Emeralds? I could always steal them. But the truth is... I wanted to get back at Knuckles somehow before I took off with them. If Eggman had captured him, I wanted to make him suffer for what he said to me. I wanted him to suffer for denying me even the chance to make my peace with him and leave him alone..."_

_The bat looked up to Banjo, her eyes shining in sadness from her tears. "But... I don't know if it's a good idea anymore..."_

_"Why not?" asked the bear._

_"I mean... everything started happening all at once," she said. "Eggman's treatment of Sonic and his friends... Meeting you... The whole thing with Tooty... It's not worth getting revenge on Knuckles over..." Here, Rouge looked down to the ground. It took a gentle nudge from the honey bear to keep her going. "Banjo... Even with all that... his words still burn me a little... Especially the fact that I would have tortured him out of anger..."_

_Much like the night before, the bear gathered the sobbing bat into his arms. "Rouge..." he said, softly and sweetly. "We all do things that aren't what we really are when we're angry. It's unavoidable sometimes. Knuckles wasn't right with what he said to you, and I can understand why you wanted to get back at him so badly. But then, all of this happened. I said it last night and I say it again tonight; you're not a bad person. You've got a good heart, Rouge, and I don't think anybody else can change that, okay?"_

_Rouge nodded, smiling softly into Banjo's chest fur as her tears slowly stopped flowing. "Thanks again, Banjo."_

_The bear gripped Rouge's shoulders, and then his lips touched hers for only a brief second before he wrapped his arms around her._

_"Nothing to it," replied the bear. "I... I can't help it. I think... I think I love you, Rouge. I'd do anything to see you happy."_

_The bat nodded as she reciprocated the hug, her ears resting against Banjo's chest as she smiled._

_"I love you too, Banjo," she said softly._

_And much like the dream before, they held each other tenderly. There was no other place Rouge could think about that she would want to be at more._

_"Wait, why wasn't _that_ our first kiss?" asked the bat suddenly as she parted from Banjo._

_The bear was quite perplexed by this question, but when he thought about it he felt the answer was hard to find. "Maybe I'll ask the writer if I ever meet him in person."_

_The bat was baffled by this reply. "Writer?" she asked. "What writer?"_

_Banjo rolled his eyes. "I'll tell you some other time when I can actually make sense," he said simply._

_Rouge nodded, not wanting to press that issue._

_The two of them simply held each other after this, engaging various pieces of small talk afterwards as they held each other lovingly throughout the rest of the night._

* * *

Banjo woke up to see Silver shaking his shoulders to wake him up.

With a groan, the bear sat up, shaking his head groggily.

"Come on," said Silver as Banjo noticed everybody else was already awake, Kazooie still slung over a tree branch where Banjo had placed her the night before. "We've gotta find the Master Emerald!"

"Oh!" said Banjo, jumping up from the ground where he had slept the night before. "I hope we find this place before Eggman does!"

"Knowing how these things work, we'll probably get there right when they need it most..." muttered Trophy Thomas as the bear took Kazooie off of the tree she had slept in the night before.

"I... Banjo, I hope things will be all right..." said Tooty uncertainly.

The older bear walked over to his sister, tapping her on the shoulder lovingly. "Don't worry," he said with a bright smile on his face. "I know they'll be okay."

With this, the younger bear nodded.

"Humba sense big heap energy this way," said the shamaness suddenly, pointing out into the wood.

"Well then, let's start there!" exclaimed Kazooie.

And like that, the group slowly made it way through the rather lush forest of Angel Island on their quest to find the Master Emerald.


	22. Dr Ivo Robotnik: Chapter 7

All right, after that sentimental stuff, we get... well... evil megalomaniacal doctors doing evil, megalomaniacal things. Like... put people to slave labor? Kill said slaves?

Apologies for the short length of this chapter. It'll get absolutely crazy next chapter, though, so consider this the breather that comes before everything. Also, because I'm gonna be under a tight schedule for the next two weeks.

* * *

Doctor Ivo Robotnik: Chapter 7

Dr. Eggman had arrived at the ruins of the town that his robots had bombarded that morning in his little flying craft. He did not bother bringing any of his ridiculously large add-ons with him, as he knew he needed the extra space for when he would go retrieve the Master Emerald later that day.

However, he was now content in hovering above the town's ruins. Pretty much the entire town had been decimated by the robots the day before; now all that was left was a bunch of piles of rubble with very small contigents of grey smoke rising from the ashes. The game factory of the L.O.G. was now a mountain of rubble in the center over which the sun dangled precariously. Most of the survivors that the robots decided not to take back to the base were now wandering aimlessly, beckoned on by the robots as they all looked for the strongest person there.

Finally, however, the robots seemed to take notice of a rather large brute with green skin and a white lab coat that was milling around as aimlessly. The cuts around his disproportionate eyes seemed to heighten the sense of pity towards the creature, who was already frightened enough as it was. However, the robots (and especially Dr. Eggman) had no sympathy for the figure, and so he was roughly grabbed by the robots and brought right in front of the doctor.

"Ssstrange thingsss let Klungo go!" exclaimed the creature in a sort of half-wail.

"Oh, I don't think so," replied Eggman, having no pity on the ogre even though he was terrified. "What's your name?"

"It isss Klungo," replied the ogre. "Mean man let Klungo go."

"I will, on one condition," replied the doctor, taking a sheet of paper out and handing it to the ogre. "I want you to dig up every piece of rubble in this stupid town, and I want you to find two sparkly jewels. And if you don't do that, then these robots here will exterminate you. And don't even think about trying to bring me the wrong jewels. They look like they do on that paper. Got it?"

"Klungo getsss it, but Klungo hungry too..." replied the ogre as he scratched his head.

Poor Klungo was then hit over the head by one of the robots as Eggman leaned over the edge of his vehicle. "You can eat after you've done what I tell you!" he shouted loudly. "Now get to work!"

Slowly, the ogre stood up, rubbing his head as he groaned in pain. "Yesss, sssir...." he replied.

Klungo had then begun to move around, lifting stones as he moved around.

* * *

After around three hours of the poor ogre being abused left and right by the two robots that Eggman had come with, Klungo returned to where Eggman's vehicle was. He waved his arms around in futility at the fact that he had found nothing.

"It isss no ussse..." began the ogre. "Klungo no able to find jewelsss..."

Eggman was quite obviously not happy to hear this. "Try harder!" exclaimed the doctor, rising from his seat slightly.

"But Klungo check under all ssstonesss..." replied Klungo desperately. "Klungo no sssee ssstrange jewelsss!"

The doctor frowned, and then he grabbed a wrench that he so happened to have with him. With three rapid strikes, he had hit the green creature over the head with enough force to leave a dent there. The creature reeled slowly, and then he fell to the ground, blood oozing from his wounds.

"That is not good enough!" cried the doctor, almost maniacally. "Now, get up!"

But Klungo did not get up. For Klungo had been unable to get up after how hard Eggman had hit him. Groaning in anger, the doctor turned to the rest of the citizens.

"All right!" he shouted, effectively scaring everybody else that he had left at the ruins of Showdown Town. "The rest of you! I want you to start looking under every stone and every broken pipe in this bloody city, or else I'll have you all gunned to death by my robots! Now move--!"

Before Eggman could finish his sentence, a droid came up to the doctor and lightly tapped it on the shoulder.

"READINGS INDICATE STRONG CHAOS ENERGY SPIKE AT THIS POINT." A projection on the air was then shown, and a rather bright dot protruded from this screen quite annoyingly. The doctor, however, seemed pleased by this. "COURSE OF ACTION RECOMMENDED?"

Seeing this, the doctor's unamused expression morphed into one of twisted joy. Laughing maniacally and confusing the townspeople even more, he looked to the robot that had delivered this news.

"Excellent," he muttered. "Send all troops here to that point. And this time, I'm coming with them!"

With this, the robot's projection died, and Eggman powered his thrusters. His robots all followed suit, and soon every last one of Eggman's troops had pulled out of Showdown Town. This left the bewildered townspeople to look around.

Finally, a rather large yellow figure with a ruined crown on his head had run over to the downed ogre, bending down as he checked on him. There was no pulse, there was no breath, there was nothing to indicate that the figure was still alive.

"Klungo...?"

And with a lack of reply, the great Jinjo King knew that Klungo was dead.


	23. Banjo: Chapter 8

Okay, so now, we go on to longer, much more visceral scenes! Away, discovery of the Master Emerald!

* * *

Banjo: Chapter 8

The group had been trudging along in the forest for quite some time when suddenly, the trees came to an end in front of what looked to be an ancient temple. Noticing this, Silver was the first one to run over there, and the rest of the group followed. When they broke out of the trees, they saw the great temple-like structure rising up above them in many, many steps. Banjo looked to the rest of his group, and then back at the structure.

"I think this might be it," he said. "She said it was the only building on the island."

"Then what bear waiting for?" asked Humba as she looked up. "Big heap energy come from there."

"Yeah!" added Kazooie. "Let's get up there!"

The group then clambored up the steps (which they realized were a little too large to actually be stepped over), with Banjo and Kazooie hopping up and Trophy Thomas jumping as well and helping Humba and Silver get up. Silver used psychokinesis on Tooty and Mumbo, and before the group knew it they were almost to the top of the pyramid. What awaited them at the top of the pyramid, however, was something not easily forgotten by the regular bystander.

When Banjo and Kazooie had hopped on, they saw a huge green jewel with a cut similar to that of the Chaos Emeralds. This was erected on a rather short stand, and the crystal gave off a small glow that illuminated everything even under the sunny sky. Both Banjo and Kazooie were awestruck just looking at the jewel, such that they barely noticed when the rest of the group had helped themselves up and set their own eyes on the jewel.

"Wow..." said Banjo breathlessly.

Kazooie, meanwhile, was transfixed to the spot for a smaller period of time than anybody else. Looking around, she noticed an inherent lack of people guarding it.

"Hey, where's this red echidna person supposed to be?" she asked dryly. "I thought we were supposed to talk to him!"

The group, startled out of their daze, looked around and suddenly found that Kazooie was right.

"Hm... I think he'll be back later..." said Tooty uncertainly.

Trophy Thomas, who was standing right beside her, shrugged in agreement. "Yeah," said the cheetah. "But I wouldn't mind doing somethin' that would get him over here faster. A guy like me can't wait all day, you know."

Banjo nodded to this, and without a word he removed the two Chaos Emeralds from the rucksack where Kazooie had put them just before they had departed for Cloud Cuckooland the day before. Slowly, he walked over to the Master Emerald, and when held the two Chaos Emeralds up to the Master Emerald, the light suddenly shone just the slightest bit brighter than it did when they first came. Slowly, Banjo removed the emeralds away from the mother emerald, and turned to the group.

"I think that'll get his attention," said the honey bear, shrugging.

"Mumbo think so too," said the shaman, who had been the slightest bit dazed for a brief period of time after the bear had held the emeralds up.

And just as Banjo and Mumbo had predicted, only a few more seconds had transpired after this when suddenly, the frantic pounding of footsteps was heard coming from somewhere else. When they heard this, a red echidna with a white moon-shaped crest on his chest jumped into view. Not making a second thought, he glided at Banjo, the bear instantly noticing the barbs on his gloves that were pointed straight towards him. Going wide-eyed in shock, the bear jumped to the side, effectively dodging the attack as the echidna skidded to a halt just behind him. Before the bear could say much else, a peach-furred echidna in a tight black jumpsuit had jumped on him, and rolling was all Banjo could do to dode this attack. Frantically, the bear stood up, eyes darting first to the red echidna and then the peach echidna before his hands dug into his pockets where he had deposited the emeralds in the seconds it took for the two guardians of the Master Emerald had attacked.

"Wait, wait!" cried Banjo as he held up his two Chaos Emeralds up. "We come in peace!"

It was then that both echidnas had noticed the dumbfounded group behind Banjo that was just now coming closer to their leader. The red one slowly stood up, walking over to Banjo and looking at the emerald with a confused look on his face.

"How did you get these?" he asked sternly, almost as if in disbelief.

The bear shrugged before holding up the hand with the yellow Chaos Emerald. "Well," he began, looking at Siver. "Silver here brought this one over, and this one..." Banjo lifted the grey Chaos Emerald here. "This one, I picked up after someone... I think it ws Shadow, left it."

Both echidnas were suddenly quite surprised at the explanation that Banjo gave. Incredulously, they both looked at him.

"What?" asked the peach-colored echidna uncertainly.

"And we know who you two are too!" exclaimed the breegull from her perch inside Banjo's rucksack. "You're Knuckles and Shade, sitting all day defending some fancy jewel from harm."

Knuckles was still dumbfounded by all this. However, the peach-tinted marsupial tilted her head in curiosity. "And how would you know that?"

"It's a long story, Ms. Shade," replied Banjo.

"Yeah, we took long enough to find this place, I don't wanna have to sit through another explanation of what's going on..." added Bottles behind them.

Banjo pointed his thumb at Bottles, nodding in agreement. "Listen, we've gotta move the island, and we've gotta do it now."

Quite surprised at this expectation, Knuckles frowned while walking in. "Move it?" he asked. "Eggman hasn't found us yet; I don't see why we should--!"

"That's the problem!" exclaimed Banjo. "He's headed right this way!"

Knuckles and Shade both gave Banjo a quizzical look. "And what makes you think that?" asked the female echidna.

"Oh, I dunno, the fact that he destroyed our home!" exclaimed Trophy Thomas angrily. "That, and those robots of his messed up my hair!"

Silver shook his head. "Thomas, the last thing we want to hear about is your hair right now," he said as the rest of the group came to stand behind Banjo. "But yeah, he invaded their town..."

"So how did you get all the way here then?" asked Shade, probing into the situation a little more.

The honey bear said nothing, afraid he would give away Rouge's involvement if he spoke. Thankfully, Tooty spoke up. "Well, they managed to get to our house outside of town..." she said. "So we just went with him and everything was fine..."

The tan-furred echidna nodded slowly. "I see..." she said, nodding. "Knuckles, I think we should move the island."

"But we don't have Shadow!" replied the red echidna. "Without him, we won't be able to do Chaos Control."

"_I_ can do Chaos Control," offered Silver, stepping in front of the pack.

The guardian of the Master Emerald rose one of his eyebrows before circling around the hedgehog. The echidna's purple eyes looked over the silver-furred hedgehog uncertainly, noting every little thing about him he noticed that would be a little off. After he circled him once, he nodded.

"Okay," said the echidna sternly. "But I'm still not convinced..."

Kazooie was quite annoyed at this. "Well, what do ya want us to tell you, spike fist?" she asked, irritation clearly showing in her voice.

Knuckles raised his eyebrows, grimacing slightly. "Oh, really?" he asked. "Then, what was that burst of Chaos Energy that hit me a few days ago?"

Banjo's eyes went wide, disbelieving cobalt looking at hard sapphire as Tooty looked nervously to her older brother. However, Bottles had decided to say something.

"Well, sir, Banjo's younger sister had been transported back here. It was like magic, I'm tell--"

"Shut up, goggle boy!" cried Kazooie, whacking the mole over the head with her wrench.

When she did this, however, Knuckles had already put the pieces together. His glare hardened even more than it possibly could have, and Banjo knew he was in trouble.

"It's Rouge, isn't it?" he asked, crossing his arms in front of him.

"... Yes, Mr. Knuckles..." replied Banjo. He knew there was no point in keeping a secret when the other party had already figured it out, and so he knew that now Knuckles had the right to know everything.

Dangerously, the echidna stepped forward, holding one of his fists as if he was about to attack Banjo. "Damn it, why does she always try to steal my emerald?" he cried. "Can you tell me that? I don't want her stealing this thing! It is my duty to keep this thing safe from all harm, and you know what will happen if this emerald falls into the wrong hands?"

"You don't understand!" said Banjo quickly, stepping back as the echidna cornered him. "I--!"

"I don't understand? I DON'T UNDERSTAND?" Knuckles was screaming by this point, his barbs pointing at Banjo. "I know her longer than you have! And she's crafty, I can tell you that much!"

"Wait, Knuckles, maybe you should calm down..." added Shade from behind him as she came towards them.

Knuckles shook his head. "Shade, you know how she was," he said to her. "And this isn't different, I can tell you that much! If you move this island, I'll bet you anything she'll be waiting right around the corner to steal it! This will not work, and that bat is a bitch for telling you otherwise!"

Upon hearing the echidna insult the bat, something in Banjo snapped, and instead of cowering back, he walked towards Knuckles, surprising even the unreasonably enraged echidna as he came forward. "Then why the hell would she give me back my sister after she's been missing for _ten _years?" asked the bear threateningly.

"She probably wanted you on her--!"

"_And_ told me all of Dr. Eggman's plans, _and_ proceeded to get the robots away from where I actually was?" said Banjo.

The echidna was not at a loss for words for quite a long time, however, and he frowned right back at the enraged honey bear. "Again, more to get you on her side!"

"Oh, and who's fault is it that she's on his side, anyway?" asked Banjo, stealing Kazooie's snarkiness and surprising her greatly when he did. "She told me you had said you'd rather give the Master Emerald to that Ix guy you fought than hang with her?"

"I wasn't going to let her steal that emerald from under my nose!" replied the echidna defensively. "She's tried it so many times lately that I know that that's what she would have done!"

"That's not true!" replied Banjo, getting progressively angrier by the second.

"I'll tell you what's not true," replied the echidna, cracking his knuckles. "What's not true is that this woman is on your side! Can't you see it? You're being misled by some bitch who's out for--!"

Before the guardian could finish his sentence, Banjo's hand had curled into a fist, and in one swift motion the honey bear had socked the echidna in the face. It was a move so sudden that it surprised everybody around the usually gentle bear as the guardian was knocked away from the bear. Not to be daunted, Knuckles stood up, panting in pure rage as he gazed at Banjo.

"She is not like that!" he cried. "She's got a good heart stowed away somewhere under that... craftiness, or whatever! You just didn't give it a chance to show itself! You're wrong!"

This only made the echidna angrier, but Banjo stood his ground, glaring at the opposing echidna with a hate that was both matching the echidna's and was very uncharacteristic of the honey bear.

"Oh, now you've done it!" Knuckles cried, rushing towards him as his eye began to swell.

However, something that Banjo and Knuckles both failed to realize during this exchange was that the hum of machinery had been beginning to pick up by this time. By now, there was a rather large robot army headed their way, which they suddenly seemed to realize belonged to Eggman. Kazooie, after tugging on Banjo's fur in vain to get his attention, decided to take matters into her own hands. Seeing a robot diving straight for the emerald, she readied a fire egg, waiting for the robot to get closer. And as soon as it was close enough...

"Oh, no you don't!" With this, the breegull tossed the fire egg, and the impact caused the robot to explode.

As the explosion was heard overhead, the red echidna had paused, and Banjo finally looked up to see the robot army approaching.

"We'll settle this later!" said Knuckles, pointing a finger at him accusatorily. "But if you don't fight these robots off with all you've got, I'll know something's up!"

Banjo said nothing, instead preferring to grab Kazooie by the neck, her legs tucked well in as he held the breegull much like a mini-gun. Confused, Shade left a glance at the bear, Knuckles basically ignoring it as he jumped into the air and punched a robot.

Mumbo raised the tiny staff he had hidden in his overalls before he had left Showdown Town, and taking it out, he drew on the energy of the Master Emerald. Shortly afterwards, a magic missile was sent flying at one of the robots that was heading straight towards the emerald. As more of them came along, he began firing missiles left and right.

"Cat look over bear's sister," said the shaman matter-of-factly to Trophy Thomas and Tooty as he fired the missiles.

"But... but why?" asked the tigercat.

"It safest thing you do," replied Humba, herself getting ready to cast some magic. "Big heap danger coming!"

Groaning in protest, the tigercat moved next to Tooty, and the two of them stood there watching as the battle unfolded.

Shade and Knuckles were both joining in on the fight, jumping up and essentially punching the robots so that they exploded on impact. Mumbo's magic missiles sometimes flew right over either of their dreads, but in the end, the missiles usually caused the robots that they hit to explode.

Banjo was in on the action as soon as he was able to get in on it. He fired away with Kazooie in Breegull Blaster mode, the eggs hitting the robots and either causing them to explode or otherwise making them short-circuit and thus rendering them unable to do much. As the army of robots began to come in in ever-increasing numbers, Silver was ready, with the familiar turquoise aura surrounding Bottles as he was levitated in the air.

"Oh hell no!" cried the mole.

Despite this protest, the telekinetic hedgehog began launching the mole at the robots. With the three sets of missiles flying at the robots and Shade and Knuckles literally punching them, the robot army was slowly beginning to get overwhelmed. Even with the increasing numbers, all Mumbo needed to do was have Humba reinforce his magic missiles, which she did quite quickly.

Shortly after this, however, Banjo ran out of eggs for Kazooie to use, so he quickly returned Kazooie to the backpack and nodded. Kazooie reached into the backpack and grabbed the wrench out, and with this she waved it around to do a vehicle recall. The airship they had taken to Cloud Cuckooland appeared then, and just before it slipped down to the bottom of the pyramid Banjo had managed to get one of the subsidiary vehicles he had subtly built into the airship. The small boat had a turret gun fixed on the end, and it was small and quite maneuverable. Pulling it onto the top of the pyramid, he jumped on into the airboat and hit the gas.

The tiny ship lifted off quite readily afterwards and when the robots were in Banjo's line of fire he let loose on the turret gun. Thousands of bullet were then sent flying into most of the robots that were incoming, and Banjo flew around the vicinity doing a little bit of extra work to lighten up the density of robots behind their front lines.

This line of defense was kept up for nearly an hour afterwards with no breaks at all as the robots just kept coming in without any end in sight. Knuckles and Shade were still going full force with their punches, but by then Silver was beginning to tire himself out from the telekinesis involved in using Bottles as a projectile, and the magic missiles were beginning to take a toll on their health. Banjo and Kazooie were still flying around, but they had sustained a few hits, so they knew their small airship would be going down soon.

Thankfully, however, just as gradually as they had come in, the army had gradually thinned out. Silver was the first one to stop, letting the unfortunate mole down before panting with his hands on his knees. Mumbo and Humba then stopped as well, giving themselves a moment or two to recharge as they watched Knuckles, Shade, and Banjo take care of the remaining robots.

However, the last robot that Knuckles had moved to punch was not a robot at all, so when he felt a wrench whacking his fist, he cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, somehow managing to land on his feet. Looking up, Shade and Tooty both recognized the doctor. Banjo and Kazooie, pausing their airship's flight, looked down at the doctor, recognizing him from the concept art the L.O.G. had given to them a few days prior.

"Dr. Eggman..." began Shade cooly. "So you've finally found us."

"Indeed I have," replied the doctor, scanning the group as his Chaos Energy detector buzzed right besides him. "And it seems..."

He paused when his eyes fell on Tooty. He grinned maliciously as he looked at her, and the bear suddenly hid behind Trophy Thomas.

"Ah, it's that pesky bear that Rouge helped escape, isn't it?" asked the doctor. "Oh, this is precious! I have the Master Emerald, the two remaining Chaos Emeralds, and my ways of breaking her all in one place! This is precious!"

Something about how the doctor worded this sentence alarmed the guardian of the Master Emerald. "Wait a minute!" he said. "I thought Rouge was working for you!"

"Not before she helped that little she-bear escape," countered Eggman craftily. "That Chaos Mooring is quite pesky, you understand?"

Upon hearing this, both of the echidnas tensed, looking at each other with shock ridden all over their expressions before turning back.

"W-what?" asked Knuckles. "But that's impossible!"

"Not as far as this bear is concerned," replied Eggman, pointing at Banjo and Kazooie's airship. "He was the _other_ end of the teleport that's involved. And after that little debacle, Rouge is busy enjoying her free time behind bars with Sonic and Shadow and the rest of those insignificant insects. And there wasn't a damn thing you could do about it, you stupid, stupid echidna."

Everybody looked at the doctor incredulously as he hovered over the Master Emerald precariously. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something that's mine to collect."

Seeing a strange crane-like contraption coming out from below him, Banjo revved his airship into gear, and he dove down, shooting a few bullets at the contraption. One of them hit, going straight through the cord that hooked up a small hand to the body of Eggman's personal ship. The hand then fell to the ground with a heavy clang, now useless to get the emerald.

"Not if I can help it!" cried Banjo, frowning as he flew in.

However, being the crafty doctor that he was, the doctor pressed a button on the control panel, and a gun turret came from the bottom. Banjo was unable to maneuver the vehicle out of the way before it let loose, so when the bullets hit the helicopter blade perched on the top of the craft the aircraft began to spiral out of control. Eventually, it hit the top of the shrine, and then Banjo and Kazooie were sent flying out, the bear letting out a grunt of pain as he hit the floor. He refrained from moving after that; he was still breathing, but this did not stop Tooty or Trophy Thomas from running to the bear with shock on their faces.

"Banjo, Banjo!" cried Tooty as she rushed to her brother.

There was no time to ponder on this, however, as Eggman promptly flew towards where the claw had fallen. Silver, somehow getting what Eggman was about to do, was quick to react. The grey hedgehog telekinetically moved the claw around the ground so fast that Eggman could scarcely get to where he needed to be before it was moved. The hedgehog kept this up for about three minutes or so, everybody looking at the hedgehog with some form of surprise on his face.

"Silver, I'm not sure that's a good idea!" said Bottles to this. "You're the only one who can--!"

But before Bottles could finish his sentence, Eggman had maneuvered so that the claw could go straight for Silver. The hedgehog had not realized this until he saw the claw hand careening in his direction. In his panic, he released his telekinetic hold on the claw hand, and before he could regain it the hand had hit Silver with such force that he knocked himself unconscious.

Snickering in delight, the mad doctor turned his attention to Knuckles and Shade, who were off to one side of the emerald.

"Of course," he said smugly. "Now it seems the only person capable of Chaos Control in this entire group just knocked himself out."

"How strange doctor man know that?" asked Mumbo from the other side of the emerald.

The physical doctor turned to the witch doctor. "Because this mole over here said that," he replied, indicating Bottles as he spoke. He then turned right back to Knuckles. "Now, I'll give you one chance to turn over the Chaos Emeralds before I end your life in the slowest, most painful way imaginable."

"I'll never give them to you!" cried Knuckles, holding the emeralds out for Eggman to see. "Even if I have to die to keep it that way!"

And before Eggman could react, the red-furred echidna had tossed the emeralds away from Eggman. They landed and rolled right to where Banjo was. Feeling a light pressure on his hand, the honey bear stirred, looking at the emeralds despondently.

"Oh, so that's the way it is, then?" asked Eggman as a rather large version of a taser came out from beneath his hovercraft. "Then eat electricity!"

The rod then touched Knuckles skin. The echidna screamed in pain as the rod made contact with his arm. Shade was very quick to react, jumping up but finding it hard to punch the rod out. The doctor had somehow forced Knuckles to the ground with this, and so the red echidna writhed in pain as an electric shock was sent throughout his being.

When the doctor relented, Knuckles rolled on his back, looking up to the doctor as he hovered mere inches away. "And I'll kill all of your friends, too!" he shouted. "Sonic, Shadow, Cream, Amy, Tails, even your precious little Shade... the whole lot of them will be dead by the time the night goes by!"

Mumbo had released a magic missile at the taser at this point, but unfortunately the missile missed as Shade went in to dismantle the taser again. When this missed as well, Eggman went in to shock the echidna again, and his screams of pain stopped any attempt to stop the doctor. When the doctor let up again, Mumbo took aim and tried to get the doctor with a magic missile again, but unfortunately this not only hit the main hull, but also reflected straight into Knuckles' fur.

Banjo, seeing all this, made no attempt to get up; his entire body was hurt, and even though Kazooie had gotten up and was standing there useless without any eggs to toss at the doctor, he knew he couldn't aggravate anything.

"And Rouge..." said the doctor menacingly, getting Banjo's attention. "Oh... the things I will do to her! She'll be screaming for mercy when I do the things I plan to do with her! She'll cry out your name, and you'll be there to see it happen so you can know that it was _you_ that she loved!"

Knuckles, despite being shocked to a near-unconscious state, was able to look up at the doctor with pure shock written in his tired expression. "What?" he asked.

"Yes, it's true!" replied the doctor, cracking up as if he had lost his mind. "And then she'll be dead, and it will be your fault for letting things get to that point! And then, you'll be all alone! And I will be victorious for the first time against you, that fucking hedgehog, and that fucking bat who almost ruined my plans! You and that hedgehog will pay for always getting in my way, but that bat... Oh, she will be begging for a mercy that doesn't exist! Rape, electric shock, cutting, you name it! I will do it on her, and I will have you chained to the wall, unable to do anything about it!"

**Che vi credete, o dee,  
Divider fra di voi del mondo tutto  
La signoria, e'l governo,  
Escludendone Amore,  
Nume, ch'è d'ambe voi tanto maggiore?**

Banjo, having heard these words, was now invigorated to do whatever it took to stop the doctor. Reaching out, he grabbed the two Chaos Emeralds in both of his hands. The doctor spoke, but the bear's ears were now deaf to whatever he had to say. All that mattered was what he was about to do. And if it did not work, which he was sure it would not, then he knew things would go from bad to worse. But he had to try. For Knuckles. For Tooty. But most of all, for Rouge.

**Io le virtudi insegno,  
Io le fortune domo,  
Questa bambina età  
Vince d'antichità  
Il tempo, e ogn'altro dio:**

Despite the fact that his entire body protested against him, he stood up, looking at the Master Emerald as Kazooie took notice. She said something, but he ignored it. Even the light weight in his backpack was ignorable under these circumstances.

Grabbing the magical wrench that Kazooie had forgotten inside his rucksack, the bear advanced to the Master Emerald as quickly as he could with a slightly pronounced limp on one side of his body. Moving up to the Chaos Emerald, he touched the emeralds and the wrench to the large jewel, and a slightly stronger glow emanated from the emerald as he took a few deep breaths of air.

**Gemelli siam l'Eternitade ed io.  
Riveritemi,  
Adoratemi,  
E di vostro sovrano il nome datemi.**

Finally, after a few intakes of air, and once Dr. Eggman had stopped tasering the echidna, the bear let loose with the words that the black hedgehog that had started this whole thing had said to teleport out of Hailfire peaks.

"_Chaos Control!_"

And despite the fact that Banjo had no affinity with Chaos energy, a white light enveloped all of Angel Island, a light so bright that Banjo should have shut his eyes but did not. The light was intensely bright for a few seconds, and then it died away just as quickly.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik was nowhere in sight when the light faded away.

Everybody looked at the honey bear as he smiled contentedly for a few seconds. However, these few seconds were brief as he then reeled around for a few seconds. Exhausted from his first time using Chaos Contro, he fell into the embrace of sweet unconsciousness.


	24. Achte Träume

And... Banjo's used Chaos Control!

Things are never gonna be the same, I can tell you that. So where do we go now?

Dream sequence! Away with it!

* * *

Achte Träume

_Banjo woke up on top of the shrine where the Master Emerald was. However, he did not see anybody else there, and the emerald seemed to glow softly in the moonlight._

_"So I see you got to the Master Emerald," said the voice of Rouge from behind him._

_The bear turned, and he was greeted with the sight of Rouge, looking at the Master Emerald with a strange sense of hushed awe that Banjo was unaccustomed to seeing from the woman he loved._

_"Yeah," said the bear. "Unfortunately, Eggman found us too."_

_Rouge's gaze tore itself from the emerald to Banjo. "What?" she said, kneeling down so she was next to the honey bear. "He arrived?"_

_"Yeah," replied Banjo. "Thankfully, we were ready for his army. Things still got out of hand... And then I had to use Chaos Control..."_

_Rouge opened her mouth to say something, but as soon as Banjo uttered 'Chaos Control' her mouth was shut again. Shock went wide in her eyes as she took this in, still unbelieving in this respect._

_"You used Chaos Control?" asked the bat, her voice shaking slightly._

_"Yeah," said the bear, turning around and finding that somehow his bones were no longer broken. "It was kind of--"_

_Before the bear could continue, he felt the harsh sting of a slap on his cheek, the bat's hand having gone across his face. Rouge then collected Banjo in her arms as she started sobbing._

_"Damn it Banjo, you could've died!" exclaimed the bat. "You don't have any affinity with that energy!"_

_"I didn't exactly have a choice, you know," replied the bear. "The only guy who could have used it was out."_

_Rouge shook her head, pulling away from Banjo and placing her hands on his shoulders. "Banjo, you were moving an entire floating island with people on it in your first time using Chaos Control," she stated simply. "Not the way most people would want to experience Chaos Control for the first time, I tell you. You could've died if you didn't have that wrench that Kazooie carries around!"_

_Banjo shook his head. "I was pretty much beat up anyway," he said, shrugging. "Eggman really did a lot to my body..."_

_"Excluding rape?" asked the bat suddenly._

_This question completely threw the oblivious honey bear off. "What do you mean?" he asked._

_"Well, you know Tails, right?" asked the bat. At Banjo's nod in confirmation, the bat continued. "Eggman has him under some strange kind of mind control. And lately he's been using it to punish Sonic for all of the years that he stopped Eggman from taking over the world. Apparently, the doctor isn't above taking somebody else's virginity... Especially not Sonic's..."_

_Banjo was utterly shocked to hear this, but all the same he realized also that somehow he had seen it coming. It also brought something else to his attention; in the rush that had accompanied Tooty's return home, she had not had a chance to say anything about what happened during the ten years that transpired before these events._

_And then he also realized that the torture of Sonic and friends would only get worse if Eggman did not decide to pursue Banjo and instead decided to go back to the base._

_"I don't know..." said the bear, squinting as he looked beyond the stars. "I'm worried about you. He might be coming back, and I don't think he'll be happy."_

_"And what makes you think that he'll throw me in there with Tails?" asked the bat._

_At this, Banjo clasped the bat's arms and looked down at the ground. "Rouge, it was terrible!" he said, surprising the bat greatly. "He threatened to hurt you in so many ways... Rouge, I... It's terrible! I don't want you to get hurt!"_

_Instantly, Rouge broke out of the hold that Banjo had his arms in and lifted his face up. She left a quick kiss on the lips before hugging Banjo, rubbing his back reassuringly. "Oh, Banjo," she said. "I... I may be his prisoner... But I've got my ways of surviving. I'll pull through. For Tails. For everyone else. But most of all, for you."_

_Banjo nodded, pulling Rouge into that hug. "Rouge... I'm sorry it had to come to this," he said._

_The bat rose one of her eyebrows in curiosity. "Why are _you_apologizing?" ased the bat plaintively. "You had nothing to do with Eggman wanting to take over the world. Hell, you had nothing to do with him until all this happened."_

_"Yeah, but I think I just led to you getting hurt more by making him mad," he said softly. "I... I don't want that Rouge. I'd hit myself if I let you get hurt..."_

_Rouge shook her head, tightening the hug a little more. "Banjo..." she said. "You... You've been in my thoughts a lot lately. And just thinking of your name... just thinking of you... It's somehow enough to make everything feel better, like we will be able to do this. Banjo... No matter how bad that gets, then I say 'it's okay' in advance. You've been such a force for me these past few days..."_

_Banjo nodded. "Something... something similar happened to me earlier..." he admitted. "When he said you were getting tortured... just thinking of you... I was mostly out when I tried the Chaos Control, but thinking of you..."_

_There was a very brief period where they were absolutely silent. When this moment had passed, their lips connected in a rather desperate lock again, and this small kiss turned quite passionate very quickly. Both of their eyes were closed as they engaged in this, and when they parted, they looked at each other longingly._

_"I... I love you Rouge," said Banjo._

_"I love you too, Banjo," replied Rouge, tears coming to her eyes._

_Banjo's glance hardened as he looked beyond Rouge to the Master Emerald. "I'm gonna find a way to get you out of there, Rouge," he said. "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to save you and Sonic and everybody else. And I don't care what Knuckles says. If I have to, I'll use Chaos Control again..."_

_"I'd rather not you have to stoop to that," replied Rouge as she hugged Banjo. "But, I... I don't know what to say... Otherwise..._

_There was a brief silence as Rouge pressed her head against Banjo's chest. The bear's heartbeat was wild against her head, and she could not help but feel the rhythm in her mind._

_"Your heart sounds like... like a drummer if he was hitting his drum as quickly as he could..." she said._

_Banjo chuckled, being able to see how sappy that sentence really was. "Like you would know..." he replied, shaking his head._

_"Oh, I dunno," replied the bat. "I own a nightclub in one corner of my home city..."_

_The bear looked down at Rouge quizzically. "Nightclub?" he asked._

_"What, you don't have any nightclubs in Showdown Town?" asked Rouge, just as confused._

_"No," replied Banjo. "Just places to eat."_

_The bat nodded. "Well, it's sort of like that, only, there's also music, and dancing, and... well, there's a stronger emphasis on drinks..."_

_The honey bear nodded, holding Rouge closer as he seemed to understand what Rouge was telling him. "I see..." he said. "Rouge... If I do manage to get you out of this mess alive... Would you mind... well... showing me where you're from?"_

_Rouge nodded, smiling as she took her head away from Banjo's body to look up into the sapphire eyes she loved so much. "I'd love to!" she said. "But you better promise me to show me your end of the world!" She pushed him playfully in the chest with one finger to emphasize her point, giggling slightly as she did._

_The bear nodded as Rouge looked at him with a playful light in her eyes. "Sure," he said. "I'm sure you'll love it."_

_And they simply held each other for the rest of the dream, saying sweet nothings to each other the entire night._

* * *

Banjo woke up to see the sun high above the heavens. He would have cursed himself for oversleeping again before he remembered that it was in a similar position as it was when he had lost consciousness after using Chaos Control.

"Hey, he's waking up!"

Trophy Thomas' voice rang out above a small murmur of voices, and when Banjo turned his head he found the heads of the entire group turning to look at him. Kazooie jumped up in joy, and almost instantly the tears came rolling down her face as she jumped on top of the bear.

And like Rouge before her, Kazooie slapped Banjo across his muzzle rather hard.

"Damn it, Banjo, don't ever do that to us again!" cried the breegull as Tooty joined Kazooie on top of the honey bear.

"Yeah, please don't," added Silver, who Banjo realized was up and quite well by this time despite the small speckles of blood that marred the fur on his face.

The guardian of the Master Emerald was silent as he walked over to the honey bear, Shade, Mumbo, and Humba staying in place where they were seated around the Master Emerald. Noticing his approach, Kazooie and Tooty both parted from the honey bear they cared about deeply as Knuckles knelt down and nodded.

"It seems Chaos really likes you for some reason," began the echidna. "Your bones healed themselves while you were out..."

Banjo had sat up by this point, and feeling his legs the bear saw what the echidna meant. "And what else happened?"

"Well, it seems like the only reason you didn't die was because that wrench got some of its energy absorbed by the Master Emerald when you pulled your little... stunt... there," replied the echidna. "It still has some of its power left that we can lift things around, but we couldn't get it to do some of the things Kazooie said it could."

The bear nodded, and then his eyes hardened as he looked into Knuckles' purple eyes. "And I also think there's something else..."

"Oh, yes..." replied Knuckles, bowing his head down to the honey bear. "Kazooie told me everyting that happened to you with the dreams and all that. And... I'm sorry. I... I just didn't want to get tricked again... I guess I took it a bit far... And I didn't really think Rouge actually had a crush on me... I... I was such an idiot to you back there. I'm sorry for everything, Banjo."

The echidna was silent, nodding slightly. Feeling a hand patting his shoulder, the echidna was surprised to see the bear looking at him with a soft smile on his face. "It's not that big a deal, when you think about it Mr. Knuckles," replied the honey bear. "It's okay."

The guardian nodded, standing up and helping Banjo up. "Thanks," said the echidna.

Banjo nodded before moving on from this conversation. "Listen," he said. "I... I think we should attack Eggman's base..."

"Yeah, we were going to do that anyways," replied Shade, turning from her stance from where she sat in front of the Master Emerald. "Eggman knows where we are now and he will not hesitate to follow us. If we strike first, we will have the upper hand."

Banjo nodded. "But how do we plan on doing that?" he asked, shrugging.

"Actually, we were waiting for you to wake up to figure that out," said Tooty. "I know the layout of the base, so I can help, but we'll need your input too."

The honey bear nodded, somehow quite happy they had waited for him to wake up before plotting their break-in strategy. The small group walked over to where the Master Emerald was. There, Banjo noticed a map of Eggman's base that Tooty had drawn with chalk while he was out. The group then huddled around the drawing, and then deliberations began as they looked at the map.


	25. Rouge: Chapter 8

Right. So, Banjo survived that. What now?

We turn to Rouge for a bit, because quite a large amount of shit hits the fan there. Unfortunately.

So, what exactly does this entail? Read on and find out!

* * *

Rouge: Chapter 8

"I don't know how the rest of you feel, but I do think that bad things are about to be real."

"You don't need to say anything about that, Grunty. After all, it was you who told Eggman that it was a bear and bird that was running around."

"I'm just thankful she didn't mention any of the rest of his friends..."

Rouge had talked about Banjo's exploits around the Master Emerald to the rest of the group. They listened in pretty intently, even Grunty. Sonic was quite glad that somebody else was doing something to save the world, and everyone else thought it rather fine.

Except for Grunty, who appropriately had the feeling that things were about to go quite awry.

"I don't know about that anymore, Mr. L.O.G.," replied Cream. "I mean, he must have seen them by now..."

"That is true..." replied the omnipotent computer. "I can't believe Banjo actually used Chaos Control and somehow was able to survive."

Shadow's crimson eyes glanced at the computer incredulously. "How do you know he's even survived?"

"Well... if he was dead, he wouldn't be able to speak to Rouge," replied the L.O.G. with a wink.

"Bah, to them, I say, boo, I hope that this doctor turns them into poo!" shouted Grunty.

The witch was then shoved into the bars by Rouge's foot ever so briefly. "Keep your nonsense to yourself, please," she replied.

"Yeah, please do," said Sonic, shivering slightly. "The thought of what Eggman could do to all of us is a little frightening..."

Just then, a loud slam was heard way down the end of the corridor.

"Oh, boy, here he comes," said Rouge, instantly recognizing everything.

And sure enough, the door to the room opened to reveal Eggman, his moustache slightly frazzled as he glared at the prisoners.

He was not happy in the least.

Almost instantly when Eggman entered, he rushed right up to Rouge's cage, literally punched a combination into the keypad that was just below the floor of the cage, and roughly opened the door to pull the bat out by the arm. This almost knocked Grunty out of the cage, but somehow the witch's head was still inside as Rouge was roughly tossed to the ground. The bat had no time to do anything when she hit the ground before she found the doctor's hand wrap around her neck dangerously.

"Rouge!" he screamed. "You... you bitch! You gave that bear the idea to Chaos Control, didn't you?"

The bat would have replied except that she was finding it hard to breathe.

"Wait, what?" asked the L.O.G., attempting to feign ignorance "He used Chaos Control?"

"You better believe he did, you imbecile!" shouted Eggman as he threw his wrench at the L.O.G. Thankfully, it bounced off of the bars harmlessly, but the action was enough to jilt the omnipotent computer into silence. "Damn it, I won't ever be defeated by any of you guys!"

"B-but... I didn't... do... a-anything..." replied Rouge, trying to at least get this out before Eggman could do much else.

This sentence only served to enrage the doctor even more, however. With a strength that surprised everybody in the room, Eggman began to lift Rouge into the air, getting a grip on her head as he slammed it repeatedly into the floor.

"You didn't do anything?" he screamed, his actions getting more wild by the second. "You let that bear escape, you told that other bear about all of my plans and all of my attacks, and you said he could warp out of there! _Of course you did something, you bitch! _I should've had you _killed_ instead of giving that bear to you! _Now_ look what's happened!"

"W...why do... you blame... me... for that... warping?" she asked, struggling through the choke hold to say something.

The doctor's face went right next to Rouge, and the bat could feel his spit flying on her face as he screamed at her. "Because you must have put that in his head that he could do that!"

"He... almost died... doing it!" she said. "He said... he... he..."

"Shut up!" With this, Eggman grabbed Rouge and punched her in the face with such strength that it surprised everybody in the room. "You're wrong!" With this, he punched his former cohort again. "You told him and you know it!" He punched the bat again and again after saying this, and he did not let up his assault after he had let Rouge's neck go and she was able to let out a few cries of protest. Trying to make out what he was saying was pretty much impossible by that point as he was shouting so incoherently everybody else could have sworn Eggman was beginning to lose his sanity. It was the brutality of the beating that shocked everybody: not only did nobody think that the doctor could actually beat the prisoners with his own hands, but it was also a shock that he had gotten to that point.

Cream was in tears by this point, but even her loud sobbing was covered by Eggman's screaming. Shadow's arms were wrapped around her as he tried his best to comfort her in his own state of incredulous shock over what they were witnessing. Everybody else just stared in shock at how the mad scientist was suddenly treating his prisoners, their jaws threatening to fall straight to the ground. Even Grunty was silent, and what made this more unusual was that she found this behavior horrible even by a villain's standard. Everybody was shocked about the doctor's behavior that eventually, Sonic shook his head in desbelief.

"Eggman, stop it!" shouted the blue hedgehog, having to fight the urge to grip the bars lest he be shocked into unconsciousness. "She didn't do anything wrong!"

The doctor's gaze was suddenly fixed on the blue hedgehog. Opening the door to Rouge's cage again, the doctor roughly deposited her into the cage, shocking her from the contact with the bars as she fell to the floor of the cage.

"Yeah, you're right," said Eggman nefariously as he edged closer to Sonic's cage. "She's not the one who did anything wrong. _It's you for foiling all of my attempts at taking over the world!"_

Eggman then punched a combination to Sonic's cell's keypad, and roughly he grabbed the hedgehog in much the same manner that he did to Rouge. However, he tossed Sonic head-first into the wall, where the teenage hedgehog fell in a heap at the floor. The doctor then grabbed the young hedgehog by the throat, holding him up in the air so his legs were useless.

"It's _you_ who kept on defeating me and defeating me and defeating me!" exclaimed the doctor. "Think of it now, it must've been you that influenced Rouge to go against me! You mastered this all! _You're always trying to screw me over!_"

Before Rouge could protest that none of this was true, the doctor punched Sonic roughly in the face, causing Amy to gasp in alarm. As Eggman did it around six more times, each punch caused the group to cringe in shock as ech punch was laid down.

Somehow, however, he stopped at the sixth punch. Instead, he took to slamming the hedgehog against the wall a few times, but even then he stopped quite suddenly. Somehow, everybody got the feeling that to Eggman, just being able to do physical harm to the hedgehog was not enough; he needed to do more to the hedgehog. With this the doctor stormed out of the room, holding Sonic, and even though the door was closed he was screaming so loudly it was hard not to hear him screaming at the hedgehog.

"No more of this!" he screamed in a sort of deranged manner. "I will break your body, I will break your mind, I will break your soul, and _I will break your fucking will_! I've had enough of this! This beating around the bush ends now!"

Sonic was then seen roughly thrust into the room in which Tails had been kept as a sort of lab rat on the TV screen that was seen in the middle of the room. Shortly afterward, footsteps were heard over the speakers. (Apparently, the microphone in Eggman's control room also gave select feeds into the prisoners' room as well.)

"Do whatever you want!" cried Eggman, his voice resonating . "Do anything, so long as it doesn't kill him!"

And the two-tailed fox was on the blue hedgehog, doing his absolute worst with just his fists.

And the next hour or so was absolute torture for everybody in the room to look at. Poor Sonic was repeatedly beaten and raped and beaten and raped, and despite his apparent screams of pain Tails never let up the ongoing assault. But the worst part had to be that the kitsune showed no signs of slowing down, even as Sonic did his best to resist and found it useless. The hedgehog was not spared any abuse, and the only goood thing out of all of this was that Tails did not have any weapons in the room that he could have used.

To the people watching in the prisoner's room, watching the blue hedgehog get tortured for one hour straight was horrifying. Poor Cream was sobbing profusely into Shadow's belly, the black hedgehog trying to keep away as he felt tears threatening to fall from his own eyes. Amy only wished she had that kind of comfort as she bawled loudly against the floor of the cell, daring not to look up at what Sonic was going through. Rouge dared not say anything, for she was too shocked to even bring words to her mouth. The Lord of Games and Gruntilda were both speechless, the computer looking up in absolute shock over how evil Eggman turned out to be. Grunty was far too shocked by what Eggman did to even try to crack out one of her awful rhymes. Nobody wanted to look up at the TV screen in the prisoner's room, and yet there was a sense of dreadful curiosity that took control over them and except for Cream nobody was able to tear their eyes away from the screen in their horror as Sonic was mercilessly beaten and raped repeatedly.

But the worst part had to be the few times when Sonic's eyes were visible. Most of the time, they were either closed or behind Tails. But when they did show, they gleamed brightly from tears, yet there was also the stark contrast of blankness in them. One of them had glazed over not just from his abuse, but also from a strange white film that had taken precedent there after one of the instances of rape. They looked so ailing to everybody else that it was completely shocking that someone who was so full of life should have to suffer this horribly.

When the hour finally ended, Sonic barely had the strength to stand up, and even as he struggled to do so Tails looked on with a blank expression on his face. When some of Eggman's robots had come upon the scene to take Sonic away, the blue hedgehog hung from their robotic arms with his head hanging as he was carried out. When he arrived at the prisoner's room a little later, he was roughly tossed into the cell next to Amy, the momentum of the toss causing him to hit the bars. That he was still conscious by this time surprised everybody in the room. They had no time to dwell on the surprise, however, for then Eggman had come in.

"So I see you know what Tails can do now, eh?" cried Eggman, pointing at Sonic's face as he barely had the energy to look at him. "I've turned him into my own personal war machine! And there is nothing _you_ can do to save him! He is mine to use, and mine alone! And soon, the whole world will be in his exact same position! And you know what the best part is? I'm poised to get the emeralds soon! So this time, I'll _finally_ take over the world! And you'll be sitting here watching, while I do that! Where's your will now, Sonic? Where is it?"

The hedgehog was too weak to reply by this point, but his incessant sobbing meant that he could not produce a viable answer. Rouge and Shadow both looked on the azure hedgehog in shock as he offered no attempts to fight back.

"I thought so too, you crazy hedgehog!" he shouted deridingly. "Now you know what it is to mess with I, the great Dr. Ivo Robotnik!"

Slowly, he began laughing diabolically, the laughter echoing off of the walls as he exited the room with his robot lackeys right beside him. When the door closed, a grand silence took hold of everything, Sonic's sobbing being very soft compared to the doctor's laughter. This silence lasted for a very long time as Amy snaked her arms around Sonic, the hedgehog too weak to care.

Grunty was the first one to speak. "My god, what an evil, crazy old man, I should have turned him into a can!" she said, still shocked by what Eggman had done. "I know I would like to hurt my foes a bunch, but this I believe is far too much!"

The L.O.G. sighed sadly as Shadow shook his head, not in annoyance but in sadness. "I couldn't agree more, Grunty," replied the L.O.G. "I couldn't agree more."

Dr. Ivo Robotnik had done the unthinkable. Not only had he captured Sonic the Hedgehog, but he had also broken his will that many people thought impossible to break.

* * *

Later in the day, Sonic had gotten most of his energy back. However, this only meant that his tears had gotten more intense as he found the energy to cry them coming to him far too quickly.

Cream had already cried herself to sleep, and Grunty had nothing to add so she had turned in early as well, both of them taking a nap in the middle of the day. So when Amy got on top of Sonic and started to grind against the hedgehog, it seemed to make sense since both of the people that should not have seen what they were doing were both unable to comment.

They breathed ever so softly, and whatever they were doing seemed to make Sonic calm down. The process took only fifteen minutes, but when it was done Sonic had finally stopped crying. They then both went to sleep shortly afterwards.

Rouge's guess was that Amy had made love to Sonic. Rouge knew that it would mean volumes to the male hedgehog that somebody still loved him, and the rose-colored hedgehog had been overly gentle to her counterpart, and even if Amy was still fully clothed she knew it could work.

Rouge only hoped the rest of Sonic's will could be picked up just as easily. He had bounced back completely from the initial rape because he had no secrets to keep; everybody had seen him do it, and so everybody was able to offer their support to him. She was sure he would be able to bounce back from having his will broken because they had all seen it happen.


	26. Banjo: Chapter 9

Okay, so... Poor Sonic gets tortured. It's so bad Grunty can't comment. Yeah, that was intentional.

Anyhoos, let's get to strategerizing! And then, some depressing backstory exposition.

* * *

Banjo: Chapter 9

"Okay, so if we go to the control room first, then that means that we can take the emeralds out and do whatever."

"But what if the prisoners aren't there?"

"I don't know. I'll need to wait to hear from Rouge about what happened today over there..."

A few heads nodded. "In the meantime, we need to be prepared for both."

More heads nodded. Knuckles was standing by the Master Emerald, Shade sitting down next to him as everybody else sat in a circle around the drawing of the base that was on the ground. They had determined that first they had to release the prisoners, but when they realized that they could be anywhere, they decided to wait until Banjo got some more details out of Rouge to make a decision.

"Okay," said Bottles. "Now, when do we actually Chaos Control into the base?"

"I was thinking something like the crack of dawn," replied Knuckles, looking at the drawing. "That way we can get ourselves well fed, and once we do that we can move the island to where the base is."

Kazooie shrugged. "What I wanna know is, how do we know we're at the right place?" she asked.

"There will be plenty of trial and error involved, no doubt," replied Shade. "Tooty must have seen the base when she entered, though, so we'll let her tell us when we're at the right place.

The younger honey bear gave the female echidna a confused look. "But how can I see where we are?" she asked.

"You'll see, Tooty," replied Knuckles with a nod. "You'll see. For now, plan on getting up very early so we don't waste more time than we should trying to find the base."

"Right," said Trophy Thomas, brushing his arms lightly with his fingers. "Which leaves us with the Chaos Emeralds. Tooty?"

"Okay," said the young honey bear, pointing at the room where she said Tails was. "This room is right next to a control room." Here, she indicated the room above where she had drawn the control room. "That's where the emeralds should be. I saw them very briefly, and from what I remember they were on this wierd little thing. They fit into the slots, too..."

"That's useful to know," replied Knuckles. "So once we free the prisoners, we run in there and steal the emeralds?"

"That sounds sensible, yes," replied Shade. "Which leaves one more thing. How do we get in?"

The bear scratched her head, trying to remember. "All I remember was a rather long corridor," she said. "The robots took me there when Eggman had gotten me. There are guard bots all over the place!"

"Hm..." said Silver, scratching his chest fur. "I think we might need to fight."

"Eh, we kicked their butts when they tried to take the emerald, we can take 'em on there," replied the red-furred echidna, clenching his fists and going into a fighter's stance.

"Okay," said Shade. "So we go through the corridor, fight the robots, free the prisoners, and take the emeralds. That sounds like a simpleton's strategy, I'll be honest. Isn't there any way we can sneak around?"

"Not that I know of," replied Tooty with a shrug. "I'm sorry."

The two echidnas shrugged. "Eh, that's okay," replied Knuckles. "So that leaves one more thing to think about; who do we take with us?"

"Mumbo think mole and cat must stay behind," replied the shaman. "Mole and cat no know way of fighting."

Upon hearing this, Bottles shrugged. "Eh, I wasn't going to go on anyway," he replied. "But don't we need someone watching over the Master Emerald in case Eggman tries to steal it?"

"That's true," said Banjo. "What should we do then?"

The peach-furred echidna shrugged as she shifted so she leaned against the Master Emerald. "I say we leave Mumbo and Humba here," she said. As the shamaness glared at the echidna, she continued. "Let's face it; without the Master Emerald for them to draw power from, they're going to be pretty useless inside. So they should be left where they can actually be of use."

The shamaness' glare had died down as she heard Shade's reasoning, and so she nodded. "Humba still want go see big heap rescue," she said bitterly.

"Which leaves us with the rest of us," replied Banjo. "Now, I want to go, if only because Rouge is involved in this."

"And I gotta go with him because we work like a team," added Kazooie from behind the honey bear. "That, and I won't have it any other way, fire boy!"

"So the force will be you two, myself, Shade, and Silver for sure," said Knuckles, nodding as he said this. "Shade, will we need Tooty?"

The female echidna shook her head. "I have fairly good location memory," she said. "Besides, you forget that I was in the Nocturnus clan; I've got greater technology than he ever will."

The older honey bear nodded as he turned to his sister. "Well, then, in that case Tooty, I want you to stay here with the rest of them," he said solemnly. "I don't want you to get hurt at all, okay?"

Banjo's younger sister nodded as she looked at Banjo intently.

"Okay, is that all?" asked Trophy Thomas impatiently. "Cause I really need to go fix my hair sometime within the next hour or so."

"Yes, that is all," replied Knuckles, slightly irritated at this display of selfishness. "We'll rest for the rest of the day. I mean, you guys did go through a lot to get to the island, and we did have that battle today, so just do whatever so long as you don't try to steal the emerald."

Everybody else nodded, and went off to do their own thing. As Banjo had stood up, however, he felt Tooty tug on his shorts. Looking at his younger sister, he suddenly found some resolve that he had not seen in the days since Tooty had returned.

"Banjo?" she said. "I... I want to tell you about what happened in the past ten years..."

"Oh!" said the bear, grabbing her hand gently. "I was wondering when you would tell!"

"Banjo, we spent the day she got here in Showdown Town with friends, and then the last two days we were getting our butts over here!" exclaimed Kazooie. "I don't think she had time to even think about talking, let alone actually talk about it!"

The bear shrugged. "Anyways, we'll go somewhere private and talk about it, okay?"

"All right," said the she-bear.

And Banjo led his younger sister by the hand to some trees at the base of the temple so they could talk more. Once they got there, Banjo and Tooty both sat down, Kazooie facing the she-bear.

"So, what happened?" he asked.

"Well, I had been going over to Bottles' house when... when I bumped into someone..." she began. "He... I don't remember what he looked like. But he didn't seem to accept my apology... He actually looked really angry, he did."

"So what happened then?" asked Kazooie.

"Well, that was the first time he took me and... well... you know..." she said uncertainly, gesturing wildly.

Banjo seemed to fill in the blank. "Raped you?" he asked, sadly.

"Yeah," she said. "And then he just took me away into someplace far, far away when I wasn't able to apologize..."

Banjo nodded, noticing that his sister was shivering slightly. Gingerly, he took her hand and leaned in a little closer. "So what happened then?"

"..." Tooty whimpered slightly, tears threatening to come.

Seeing this, the bear collected Tooty into his arms as Kazooie stepped out of the bag and joined them in a small group hug. "It's okay," said Banjo soothingly. "You don't have to spill everything now."

"No..." replied the younger bear. "You... you need to know... it's been ten years, and it's not fair for you..." Sniffling slightly, she continued. "He... he kept me locked in a house for one year. And... And... Oh, Banjo... He raped me over and over and over for one year! He kept on calling me horrible names, he kept on raping me... And... and..."

The younger honey bear was unable to continue after this, and so she settled for crying into the chest of her older brother.

Banjo nodded softly, hugging Tooty closer to him as he patted her back comfortingly. "What happened then?"

"Then..." she said. "Then he started putting me on the streets..."

"Oh, no, don't tell me he made you a prostitute!" exclaimed Kazooie.

In reply, Tooty choked out a sob. "It was horrible!" she said as the tears came without abandon. "There were so many men... they did so many things to me... and on top of that, the guy who originally found me wouldn't let me change my shirt! It wasn't until I had been doing it for four years that they finally made me take my shirt off! Those men all did horrible things to me! Banjo..." The female bear again took to sobbing into Banjo's chest, the bear only shaking his head and patting her back to calm her down.

"You don't have to tell us twice," replied the breegull softly. "The L.O.G. found your old shirt in a dumpster."

Surprised at this, the bear flinched slightly. "He did?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," replied the bear. "He also found a lot of... uh... stains... He told us you were probably raped, Tooty. And now that we hear that that man forced you to prostitute yourself..."

The bear only shook her head into his older brother's chest, sobbing softly into him. There was a silence lasting around a minute where Banjo allowed the bear to cry away. Nothing truly needed to be said right at that moment; the silence seemed to speak for itself.

"Where did he take you, anyway?" asked Kazooie, her face scrunching up in curiosity.

"I don't know," she said. "He took me to some strange land where nobody looked like they do here. I don't know... his name was some Chinese thing... I think it was something like Tan Tao..."

Banjo shrugged. "That doesn't really matter," he said. "So, what happened after that?"

"After that..." she said. "I started getting ugly after about seven years of that. And then he had no use for me. So he cast me out onto the streets to fend for myself..." She sniffled again, her tears stopping temporarily. "That was when things got a little better. I had to fight for my food and nobody liked me, but at least nobody was touching me... I'm just thankful I was able to spend around a year like that..."

Banjo nodded, patting Tooty's head. "So what happened then?"

"Some doctor found me..." she said, breaking up again. "And... And he did these horrible, horrible experiments on me, Banjo! I don't know why he did it!"

"Well, what did he do?" asked Kazooie.

"I... I don't know..." said Tooty. "But it hurt so much. There were so many needles, and liquids... Half the time I woke up not remembering what had happened the day before. I actually forgot my own name after a certain point... But everything he did was so painful... And I... It... It was worse than the rape... It was worse than when I had to sell myself on the streets."

Kazooie shook her head simply as her wings tightened around Tooty.

Frowning, the older honey bear looked down. "And the doctor who did this... It wasn't Eggman, was it?" he asked, waiting for an answer.

"No," replied Tooty. Banjo let out a soft sigh of relief before Tooty continued. "The doctor I'm talking about gave me to Eggman just before all this. And then, Miss Rouge saved my life, and, well, here we are... And... I don't think I should be with you! You're too pure, even though I'm dirty! I don't know why you still cared for me through all those years. I don't deserve it..."

Banjo shook his head. "That's not true, Tooty," he said softly as he tightened the hug slightly. "You're my sister. I'd always love you even if you killed everybody in the entire world. You're that important to me. Don't ever say you don't deserve my love, because that's just not true."

"Yeah, besides, it's not your fault that some bigshot kidnapped you and did all that," added Kazooie wryly. "Just remember; we're your family Tooty. You'll always have Banjo and I to fall back on if you feel sad."

"Banjo... Kazooie..." replied the she-bear softly as she sobbed.

"Yes, Tooty?" asked the elder bear softly.

"Thanks... For everything..." she replied softly.

And the two bears and the breegull remained in this group hug under the trees, letting Tooty cry as much as she needed to.

* * *

Some time later, the sun had set.

Tooty and Kazooie had layed down somewhere close to Banjo. The breegull would have wanted to sleep in the rucksack, but unfortunately with Tooty having given her side of what happened during the ten years she had gone missing she did not want to be alone that night. So Kazooie volunteered to sleep next to her, partly to keep everybody else from touching her and partly because she knew Banjo would take her into his dream if he had held her.

Everybody else was sleeping around the shrine, Knuckles and Shade being the only ones to interrupt their sleep patterns to keep watch over the Master Emerald. Banjo merely lay at the base of the pedestal, feeling the slight hum of energy emanating from the emerald as he looked at it. It was hard to believe the guardian of the emerald actually let the honey bear sleep right next to the large jewel, but in the end, Banjo was at least thankful that the echidna had let him sleep there so he could talk to Rouge again.

Slowly, the bear drifted off to sleep, gazing up at the emerald as he closed his eyes.


	27. Neunte Träume

Okay, so we know what Banjo and the gang are gonna do.

Now, question is, what's going to happen during tonight's dream sequence? Let's find out, shall we?

* * *

Neunte Träume

_The honey bear found himself by the shrine again, the Master Emerald glinting as he looked at it. Rouge was sitting by it, holding herself as if she was shocked and shaking slightly. Concerned, the bear went over to the bat._

_"What happened?" he asked._

_Rouge seemed to stop shivering when she looked into Banjo's eyes. Slowly, she set her arms on the ground._

_"Eggman returned," she said. "It was just as you said it would be. He wasn't happy at all."_

_Banjo nodded, sitting down next to the bat. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"_

_The bat shook her head, looking at the stars above. "He beat me up, but that's about it," she said. "Somehow, he found a way to blame Sonic and saved the worst for him..."_

_The bear nodded, draping an arm over Rouge's shoulder. "Well, Knuckles had already agreed to come save you even before I had woken up," replied Banjo. "So no matter what happens tomorrow, we'll finally see each other in the real world."_

_Rouge nodded, her eyes taking on a slightly happier shine as she looked at him. "That's great," she said softly. "I just hope Eggman doesn't kill us all first."_

_"Why do you say that?" asked Banjo, raising one of his eyebrows._

_"I don't know," said Rouge. "Just... something about it all says that he's going to try to kill us all..."_

_Banjo nodded. "Well, we'll do our best," replied the honey bear. "I'm sure we'll make it in time to save you."_

_The bat nodded, looking into the sapphire eyes of the one she loved. "I hope you do too," she replied._

_There was a rather lengthy silence where the two of them just looked at the stars as they twinkled in the sky above them. The only contact they had was to have Banjo's arm draped over her shoulders. After a while of gazing, Banjo looked down at Rouge._

_"You know, Rouge," he said. "I really can't believe all that's happened to us."_

_"I know," replied the bat, chuckling good-naturedly. "It's so hard to believe that just nine nights ago I didn't even know who you were, and now I'm in love with you. It's so... surreal."_

_"I actually feel the same way, Rouge," replied Banjo. "It's so hard to believe that all this happened so fast. And to think that I wasn't planning on going on any adventures, either..."_

_The bat shrugged, a doofy smile on her face. "Well, what can I say?" she said. "Some things happen that come right out of nowhere."_

_Banjo nodded. "That's true," replied the bear as he patted Rouge's shoulder. "But still, it's one of those things that I am glad happened. Tooty came back home, I met you..."_

_"I don't know..." replied Rouge, shrugging slightly. "Eggman hasn't been good to any of us since I met you."_

_Wrinkling his nose in distaste, the bear looked down at Rouge. "Well, when you think about it, he would have done some of those things if anybody else had tried to stop him," replied Banjo. "I'm not the only one who could've gotten him angry."_

_Rouge nodded, seeing Banjo's point. "That's true," she said. "And, there is the fact that I did meet you..."_

_The bat playfully poked Banjo in the stomach at this. After the poke, he brought his arm away from Rouge, and then he doubled over, giggling madly. "Stop that!" said Banjo in playful dismay. "That tickles!"_

_Smirking deviously, Rouge jumped on top of Banjo. "Oh, you...!" she derided playfully as she straddled over his hips. "Take it like a man!"_

_She then proceeded to tickle Banjo relentlessly for a good two minutes. The honey bear was laughing so hard he swore he was going to cry from how much laughter was coming out of him. Rouge seemed to be having a great time doing this, if the smile on her face had anything to say. After the two minutes were up, the bat relented, and then Banjo sat up, still clutching his stomach as the signs of laughter-induced tears shone in his eyes. He looked down at Rouge, smiling softly._

_"Now I've gotta find your ticklish spots!" said the honey bear._

_"Oh, you," said Rouge, playfully shoving the bear in the chest. "You're gonna have to get pretty crafty to get that out of me!"_

_"I'll find a way, Rouge," replied Banjo, smiling deviously as he looked at the woman he loved. "I'll find a way."_

_They both sat, looking intently into each other's eyes as Rouge sat in Banjo's lap._

_"You know, we should hang out after all this," said the bat simply._

_"Yeah," replied the bear, his arms behind him as he leaned back. "Spiral Mountain, or your nightclub?"_

_"Hm..." said Rouge, rubbing her chin. "That's a good question..."_

_"I'd like to see your nightclub, actually," replied Banjo._

_Rouge nodded, smiling softly. "Then nightclub it is, then!" she explained. "And feel free to take Tooty and Kazooie with you!"_

_"Sure," said Banjo. "I'm looking forward to it._

_The bear leaned over and kissed Rouge on the forehead, lingering there for a few seconds before drawing back to look down on Rouge's face. And they spent the dream looking at each other like this._

* * *

Banjo was woken up with a shake on the shoulder from Knuckles. Slowly, the bear opened his eyes, not wanting to forget about the scene so quickly.

"Morning, Banjo," whispered the guardian. "We're gonna be leaving soon, so help me wake everyone up."

The bear groaned softly as he sat up. He looked around briefly, and then followed Knuckles' lead in waking everybody up.


	28. Shadow: Chapter 9

Right. So, things have been happening while Rouge was asleep. Let's cut to a different character and see what those things are, yes?

Yeah, this will be a really, really short chapter. Why? Ask the chapter after this chapter. Just expect there to be no updates on this for a few days as we all

* * *

Shadow: Chapter 9

Shadow had been unable to sleep that night. Somehow, the past few hours of his life had been so horrifying that he was unable to sleep. That said, Shadow took to simply staying awake, thinking about everything as Cream rested on his belly.

However, as he was sitting up and thinking about this, he looked over to the screen, its dull light still steadfast in the night.

What he saw on the screen was a little disturbing.

Tails was standing so still his two tails were unmoving. This was a sight he had gotten used to; Tails never moved until Eggman had specifically told him to. However, he saw robot lackeys running around leaving various objects inside the room. Squinting to get a better look, the black hedgehog saw sharp and blunt objects alike being placed around Tails. Seeing this, the black hedgehog's eyes widened.

_No..._ he thought. _He isn't..._

His thoughts were interrupted as the robot lackeys left the room that Tails was in. He stared at the sharp objects. There were a whole bevy of swords and knives, as well as bats and hammers laying there. Blinking, he realized that Eggman did indeed intend to kill them.

Just then, the lights came on in the room. Shadow knew it was only around seven in the morning, but usually the lights never came up that early. Eggman was never that cruel.

Rouge was the first to stir, and everybody else followed suit rather quickly.

"What's going on?" asked Amy groggily as she gripped Sonic's arm.

Just then, they all saw the items around Tails on the screen. Reeling back a bit, everybody gasped in shock.

"Oh my God..." said Rouge. "That can't be..."

"No..." said Sonic.

Just then, the doctor burst in, a deranged grin floating on his face.

"Good morning, everyone!" he said in a high pitched voice that everybody was unaccustomed to from the mad doctor. "And today, is the day that you'll all die!"

After these words were uttered by the doctor, everybody looked wildly around, shocked.

"Now, I'll give you one chance to save yourself," said the doctor. "Rouge."

The bat was at attention instantly as the doctor looked at her and paced around the room. "I know you hid your emerald somewhere. Now, if you'll only tell me where that emerald is, I will spare one of your own."

All eyes were on the bat as she looked at the doctor. The bat was pretty crafty. "How do I know you won't grant them the quickest death of all of us?" she asked.

"Because they won't even leave this room," replied the doctor. "In fact, I won't even have any guards in this room. So choose wisely. And if you choose that goddamn blue hedgehog, then I'll kill all of you anyway."

Rouge nodded.

"Rouge..." said Sonic. "Just... tell him where it is... I'd rather have one person still be alive than have us all be dead."

The midnight hedgehog looked over to his friend, and from the look in her eyes he was able to tell that she had made up her mind.

"All right," she said, nodding gravely. "It's in one of the air vents close to this room. I changed the grating; it's the one where the whole thing is closed off."

Turning to one of his robots, Eggman nodded. The robot lackey left, leaving a tense silence to hang on the air.

The silence had disappeared completely when the robot entered the room again with the emerald that had been in Rouge's posession. Smiling darkly, the doctor nodded.

"Excellent," he said. "Now, who do you want to spare...?"

Rouge looked to the entire group. The choice was very difficult. Sonic was out of the question because of the conditions Eggman had set, which left everybody else. Her topaz eyes darted throughout the room, falling on the Lord of Games, on Amy, on Cream, on Shadow, even on Gruntilda. The hedgehog had a feeling that he knew what would happen next.

"I..." began Rouge. "I choose Cream."

With this, Cream's teary eyes lit up as she looked at the rest of the group. "But... but--"

"Cream, you're only a child," replied Rouge softly. "I... I can't take your life away from you."

"But... but what's worse, living in torment forever, or dying quickly?" asked Shadow morosely.

Rouge shook her head. And from here, Shadow realized that Rouge knew something he did not. Deciding to trust the bat with whatever she knew, he nodded.

"I'm sorry," replied the black hedgehog.

"All right, so Cream shall be spared!" replied the doctor. "Robots! Sieze them all and bring them to Tails' cell! And whatever you do, don't touch that rabbit!"

And as the cage doors swung open, everybody except Cream was dragged out of their cages. Shadow was dragged out of the room with everybody else. When he was able to afford a glance before the door shut between them, he saw Cream sobbing so intently that the hedgehog could not help but regret his decision to stay by Rouge's decision.


	29. Ultimatum: Chapter 10

Okay, it's time for the Ultimatum chapter!

Essentially, this chapter is going to be really, really long, so don't sit down to read it unless you know you've got time to kill.

So, away we go, into events that change everything.

* * *

Ultimatum: Chapter 10

"Okay, Silver, you ready?"

The silver hedgehog was poised in front of the Master Emerald, holding the Chaos Emeralds in his hands. The rest of the group was crowded around it, Tooty touching the emerald as Banjo stood next to her. The sun was just beginning to shine over the landscape, shedding a strange orange light on all that existed. Kazooie was in Banjo's backpack, waiting to deliver a world of pain as Knuckles and Shade stood at the ready. Mumbo, Humba, T.T., and Bottles all stood to the side, their eyes darting around with just the slightest air of nervousness. The atmosphere was pretty tense, as everybody knew that what wold happen next would change the fate of the world. Silver turned to the group and nodded.

"Yeah," he said.

Shifting slightly and taking a deep breath, Silver was ready.

"_Chaos Control!_" he shouted.

The white light enveloped all of Angel Island once again, but this time the control seemed to go faster. When the light had faded, Banjo was still standing on his feet. Kazooie sighed in relief knowing that she would not have to find a way to wake up Banjo again. Tooty's eyes were open, shining in some kind of great shock as the group that was staying with the emerald gathered around it.

"What did you see?" asked Shade.

"I think we're here," she said, blinking slightly as she tried to put together what she had seen. "I saw it to the south side..."

Knuckles nodded as Kazooie put her legs through the bottom of Banjo's backpack. "All right," said Knuckles as Banjo and Kazooie entered talon trot mode and Silver walked over to the group that was infiltrating the base. "Those of you that aren't coming, stay here, and guard the emerald with your lives. The rest of you, let's go!"

And with this, Banjo, Kazooie, Knuckles, Shade, and Silver ran towards the south side of the floating island, faces set in a quasi-frown as they moved as quickly as they could possibly move.

The race against time had begun.

* * *

Everybody was thrown into Tails' prison rather roughly. The ceiling was so high, it was almost intimidating for anybody that was in the room at the time. It was then that everybody was able to get a better look at the arsenal that Tails had at his disposal. Even more dangerous was that all of the weapons were in positions that were all really easy to pick up. Looking at this, those that could stand stood up. Rouge and Shadow both looked at the arsenal, trying to size up what weapons they could use as Sonic and Amy both reeled back in fright. Lord of Games and Gruntilda simply looked on.

"And if you even try to take those weapons, you're dead," said Eggman over a microphone system. This sent heads reeling, and it was at this point that Rouge realized that the window that looked into the controller was one of those windows in which one could only see in and not out.

"You can't guarantee that!" replied Shadow as he moved towards one of the weapons. "I can still--" But when the hedgehog did grip the weapon, a very strong electric shock coursed through his body, and he dropped the weapon while howling in pain.

"And that's why you can't take those weapons," replied the mad doctor. "Because they are programmed to work so that only Tails' DNA can be used to grip them."

"Oh, dear..." said Rouge, shaking her head softly. "This isn't going to be good..."

"Precisely," said Eggman. "Now, I will kill you all one by one! And I'll start with the most insignificant scum..."

Here, the microphone produced a feedback that was so loud it nearly made everybody deaf. Even though the bat could not see it, she was certain Eggman was grinning madly behind the glass that he was situated behind. She could feel it, at any rate, the maniacal grin seeming to haunt her like a ghost.

"Don't you dare call us insignificant scum, I'll hurt you so much you'll cry for your mum!" cried Grunty.

"Tsk tsk tsk..." said the doctor in reply. "You did not want to do that. That was a bad, bad move, you crazy witch, especially now that I know who's a bitch."

The doctor laughed diabolically as Rouge could feel his malevolent stare on everybody below them. She was not concentrating so much on Eggman's mockery of Gruntilda's bad rhymes, but more on the fact that she knew what this was builing up to. _Banjo..._

"Now, Tails... Kill the talking skull!"

* * *

Banjo, Knuckles, Silver, and Shade eventually arrived at the end of the island. When they looked down from where they were in the sky, they saw a rather modest metal building sitting in a barren field. The building was rather large, and it looked like a military compound on a first glance. Turning to the rest of the group, Knuckles nodded.

"Yeah, this looks like a place Eggman would use as a base," he said. "Now, the question is, how do we get down there?"

"Well, we could always use our vehicle," replied Banjo as he scratched his chin.

"And mess up our chance of getting back to this island?" asked Shade. "If his robots are any indication, they will try to destroy it."

Kazooie nodded. "Then in that case, there's only one thing we can do," she said, looking down at the ground below. "We glide down there!"

"Yeah, but how do I get down there?" asked Silver, shrugging.

"I'll carry you down there," replied Banjo as he walked over to the grey furred hedehog. "Kazooie, you think you can handle the extra weight?"

"Yeah," replied Kazooie.

Knuckles had been a little confused when the breegull had mentioned gliding. "Wait, how do you know I can do that anyway?" asked the guardian.

"L.O.G.," was Banjo's reply as he grabbed a hold of Silver's shoulders. "We don't have much time."

"Yeah, we should move," said Shade.

The red echidna simply nodded, first to his counterpart and then to Banjo, and before anybody had known anything they were gliding off the edge of Angel Island towards the metallic building that they knew was Eggman's base.

"Kazooie, I hope you stocked up on red feathers before we left," he shouted to her.

"What, for gliding down?" asked Kazooie. "You know we won't need feathers for that!"

Banjo stayed quiet after this, and instead he held on to Silver as Kazooie, Knuckles, and Shade all glided down to the earth.

* * *

It had happened so quickly nobody had really had any time to say anything.

The one moment, Gruntilda Winkybunion was a skull, bouncing around while trying to say the worst rhymes in the world. The next, she was nothing more than a bunch of pieces of bone, all scattered on the ground. Each piece of her head seemed to form an imperfect circle around the head of the hammer that had done what eight years of being under a rock did not.

When the hammer lifted, there was litterally nothing left of the evil witch that had been Banjo's nemesis for so long. Tails looked up, his expression still blank as he looked at the rest of the group wildly.

"My... my god..." said Shadow as he backed up. "The doctor isn't bluffing..."

"You better believe I am not bluffing!" cried Eggman maniacally. "I won't stop until all of you are dead!"

"You'll never take us alive!" cried Rouge, standing up and putting her heart over her breast.

"And yet, I just killed that witch without a second thought!," countered the doctor, giggling slightly. "Who says I can't take anybody else?"

"You..." Sonic was barely even able to stand at this point. The blue hedgehog was kneeling on the ground, an expression of mixed sadness and rage swirling through his emerald eyes as he gazed up at where he figured Eggman would be. "You monster! How could you do this to us? You're a monster! You--!"

"I'll show you who's a monster, you conniving idiot!" cried Eggman. "You took away my chance to be all-powerful, you kept on taking it, and you kept taunting me and taunting me and taunting me every time you stopped me! I'm not going to go down now!"

"I'm not gonna let you take the freedom of anybody else, either!" cried the sapphire hedgehog. "I--!"

"Well, it's too bad!" cried the doctor. "I already took your innocence, you dirty swine! And you're trapped in a room with your best friend set to kill all of you! How does it feel to be on the losing side now, hedgehog? How does it feel?"

Sonic simply growled in defiance as Amy gripped his shoulders.

"You have no such rights!" interjected the Lord of Games, his screen flashing in brilliance as he came forward. "You are a villain, yes, but this is going too far! Villains are never supposed to do things like this!"

"Shut up!" cried Eggman, the speakers nearly blowing out from how loud and shrill this cry was. "You have no power over me here! And to prove that..."

He began chuckling maniacally. _Oh no... _thought Rouge as she looked at the Lord of Games in shock. _Banjo, where are you?_

"Tails, kill that computer!"

* * *

The instant the group touched down on the ground, they found the entrance to the base that Tooty was talking about. The group instantly broke into a run and came straight for the door. Looking at it, Shade shook her head.

"We're going to have to punch it," she said simply. "I don't think I can hack the security systems fast enough to get us in there in time to save them."

"Punch it?" asked the honey bear, who was slightly confused as to what this entailed.

"Stand back, guys," said Knuckles as he cracked his knuckles and began knocking on the walls. "This might cause a bit of pain."

And without much further ado the echidna had punched a hole through the wall close to the door. An alarm system suddenly started blaring, but this did not affect much as the group still ran through the hole, Silver jumping through with the assistance of a little telekinesis. Right as they entered, a whole bevy of robots flooded the corridor. Seeing this, everyboy got in a fighting stance as Kazooie jumped out of Banjo's backpack.

Without really saying anything, the group advanced amongst the massive army of robots that was headed towards them. Almost without thinking about it, Knuckles and Shade began punching out as many robots as they could in such a short time. Silver, Banjo, and Kazooie were also well at work. Stunning the robots was the best that Banjo and Kazooie could do what with having only a backpack and wings at their disposal, but since Knuckles or Shade usually punched those robots out pretty soon, that was a moot point. Silver, meanwhile, was busy using telekinesis to cause robots to crash into each other. As the explosions began to sound behind them, they slowly advanced down the corridor, dispatching whatever robots were foolish enough to stand in their way.

Somewhere along the line, Knuckles had turned to Banjo.

"Hey, don't you guys have anything else you can use on these guys?" he asked.

"If we did, we'd be shooting things at them!" replied Kazooie as she whacked another robot with a wing attack. "It's not as simple as you think it is, fire head!"

Simply punching the robot that Kazooie had stunned, Knuckles decided to drop it.

The robot army was thinned a little slower than they would have liked. When they finally did get through all of the robot's in the base, they had to take a very quick breather. However, they did not dwell on it long.

"Okay, we got through security, now let's find the prisoners!" cried Knuckles as he and the rest of his group ran through the remaining length of the corridor.

_Hang in there, Rouge..._ thought Banjo. _I'm coming for you!_

* * *

The L.O.G. had dodged a swing from a bat that Tails was holding right as the alarm went off. All heads in the area turned to the area around them as the alarm blared.

Rouge smiled, looking out into the door. "Yes, he's here!" muttered the bat under her breath as all activity seemed to stop. _Now all I have to do is hold him off until he can rescue us_

A banging of a fist on a flat surface was heard from the microphone. "Damn it, Tails!" cried the doctor. "Don't pay attention to the alarm! Kill that computer!"

The kitsune wasted no time trying to follow the command, but before the object could hit Rouge had kicked the little two-tailed fox in the hand. This in turn caused him to drop the weapon he was holding.

"Oh, no you don't!" cried the former G.U.N. agent. "You wanna get to him, you'll have to get the rest of us first!"

Upon hearing this, Shadow took a cue from Rouge. Rushing forward, he grabbed Tails by the wrist and threw him away quite quickly. Grabbing a hammer and doing her best to go against the electric shock that she knew was hurting her, Amy followed up by hitting the two-tailed fox. However, she had to let go of the hammer all too quickly for the shock had gotten to her system.

"Ow!" she cried, gripping her hand. "That hurt!"

"No time to dwell on that!" cried Sonic as he rushed forward and attempted to tackle Tails to the ground.

However, the fox sidestepped the hedgehog, and Sonic then fell on the ground. Seeing one of the throwing knives close to him, Tails reached down and grabbed it by the blade. Before Shadow or Rouge could react, the sound of glass cracking was heard.

It was then that everybody noticed that Tails had thrown the knife right into the L.O.G.'s computer face. A few stray chips of glass feel down like tears as the light on the L.O.G.'s screen flickered briefly before dying.

Everybody was so shocked by this that Tails was able to capitalize on the distraction. Jumping in with the hammer that Amy had dropped earlier, he bashed the computer over the head. The glass that was left had shattered then, revealing a mess of wiring as the kitsune beat the fallen computer over its monitor again and again and again until it had become a mess of dented metal and severed wires.

Everybody looked at the computer that used to be the Lord of Games in shock. The computer was now on the ground, the grand purple cape that he wore laying in a heap by some of the grains of broken glass that were seen. Hesitantly, Rouge knelt at the L.O.G.'s dead computer, shaking her head.

"Ha ha!" cried the doctor, distracting everybody from their current thoughts as they looked up. "See? You have no power here, and you'll never have power here! I'm better than you!"

"Shut up, Eggman!" cried Sonic. "You--!"

"Shut up, hedgehog!" taunted the doctor right back. "You've caused me enough trouble! I was hoping to save you for last, but you know what? Fuck it. I can't wait any longer!"

Tails looked straight at Sonic, and Rouge knew what this had to mean.

"Tails. I want you to kill Sonic the Hedgehog!" cried the doctor. "And I want you to do it in the slowest, most painful way possible! Kill him!"

And without hesitation, the kitsune leapt towards the sapphire hedgehog. Ducking under the bat, Sonic began a mad dash around the room. It was to his great chagrin that Tails was following him just as quickly, bat in his hand.

* * *

They finally got towards the end of the long corridor, and then Shade noticed the doors lining up exactly where Tooty had said they would.

"Okay, we're close to the prisoners' room!" said the tan-furred echidna. "It should be on our right... now!"

They stopped in front of a slidining glass door. Walking up to it, Banjo was surprised that it opened right up.

When they opened it, Banjo was surprised to see the prisoners' room exactly as how he had seen it in his dreams with Rouge. The cells were mostly empty except for a small rabbit girl who was looking up at a source of light in fear.

"Cream!" cried Knuckles, instantly recognizing the little rabbit girl. "You're okay!"

Shocked out of her stupor, the rabbit looked over to the echidna and gasped in surprise as the small group rushed forward.

"Mr. Knuckles!" cried the rabbit as she pointed up at the source of light she had been staring at. "You've gotta help them! They're gonna die!"

Looking up at the monitor, the group saw Tails running around chasing after Sonic. It would have been endearing if not for the fact that he was holding a hammer in his hand.

"Oh my God!" cried Banjo as he noticed Rouge in the room. "Rouge!"

"No way!" cried Kazooie, noticing the bits of crushed skull and the destroyed computer monitor. "He's killed onion breath and Pong face! That's my job!"

"Damn it..." said Knuckles, turning to Cream after seeing this. "We've gotta get you out of here first! Then we'll get to them!"

"Haha!" cried Kazooie, grabbing her wrench from inside Banjo's backpack. "Never fear, this wrench is here!"

Before Knuckles could protest, Kazooie had pointed the wrench at the keypad that was by Cream's cell. A combination was punched in, and then a buzz that nobody had noticed was there when they entered the room died down. Thinking quickly, Knuckles jumped up, opened the cage door, and jumped down with Cream in his arms.

"Okay," said Knuckles as he moved the rabbit over to where Silver stood. "Silver, keep an eye on her. We're going to try to break in!"

The hedgehog nodded as Knuckles, Shade, and Banjo all ran out of the room. Looking up at the TV screen in fright, Silver watched the colors dance brightly on the screen. Cream was instantly crying into the legs of the denizen of the future. Looking down, the albino hedgehog patted the rabbit's head soothingly.

"Don't worry," he said. "Everything will be okay."

At least, he sincerely hoped it would.

* * *

It had not taken long for Rouge to attempt to disarm Tails successfully. This had been quite the difficult endeavor, but when she had finally done it she was quite relieved. However, this only made things worse, as he was right next to one of his throwing knives. Thus, Sonic let out a cry of pain when he came crashing to the floor, a knife in his leg. The kitsune closed in as he attempted in vain to stand up.

However, Amy was ready. Grabbing the hammer and withstanding the electric shock again, she went in, trying to hit Tails. Not to be deterred, Amy and Tails fought over the hammer, the kitsune gripping the head of the hammer as Amy grabbed the handle.

"Shadow, help me out here!" cried Amy.

He replied by getting Sonic as out of the way as he could manage. However, the electric shock was beginning to be too much for the pink hedgehog. And after maybe a few extra seconds, she let it go, collapsing to the ground while breathing heavily.

"Damn it!" cried Sonic. "Amy!"

They had no time to dwell on this, however, for then the kitsune had leapt at Sonic after getting a katana that happened to be close by. Getting in front of him, Shadow instantly kicked Tails' hand away, and the two fought for dominance for a brief period of time.

* * *

Knuckles knocked on the entire wall surrounding the door to the prisons. He shook his head.

"There isn't a weak spot on this wall!" he said.

"Then what do we do?" asked Banjo, listening in on the events going on in the door.

Shade looked around, her eyes spotting a small door. "Wait," she said. "Let me try to see if I can override the security demands on this door!"

She then ran to the small door and entered.

"This is ridiculous!" cried Kazooie crassly as she shook her head. "I hope she's fast about it."

"Trust me, Kazooie," replied the red echidna. "She came from a dimension where her technology was better. It shouldn't be--!"

And then a scream of pain was heard from within the door's confines. It was the scream of a young teenage man.

"Oh my--!" cried Knuckles, placing his whole body against the door. "It's Sonic! Sonic!"

* * *

Shadow and Tails had fought for dominance. It had given Rouge enough time to get behind Tails to attempt to pin the fox down.

It was frightening how it had all gone wrong at the drop of a hat.

Somehow, the kitsune had managed to knock the midnight hedgehog out as Sonic attempted to crawl away. Rouge was then struggling for a bit before she was thrown off by the kitsune when he shook his tails around a bit. The bat then noticed Tails rushing straight for the blue hedgehog.

"No!" cried the bat as she leapt forward in an attempt to tackle the two-tailed fox.

She was only partly successful. She had managed to grab his legs, which slowed his advance on the hero but not much else. However, she attempted to climb back onto Tails again, clamboring as she tried to stop the fox from killing Sonic.

* * *

Shade was typing away furiously, trying to find a way to override the command.

"Come on, come on, come on..." she whispered as she typed away.

* * *

Tails had been to resilient. He had grabbed another throwing knive and hit Sonic's arm. The hedgehog screamed in pain as he felt the blade penetrate his arm, and his other hand went straight for where the knife had lodged itself.

Rouge, who had already had a pretty feeble grip on the two-tailed fox, found her grip to be slipping.

It only made things that much worse for her when the fox managed to fling her away with the arm that had tossed the throwing knife in Sonic's arm. As she was flung away, she let out a grunt when she hit the ground.

* * *

"Damn it, Shade, move faster!" muttered Knuckles under his breath.

The honey bear shook his head. "This isn't going to make it easy for any of us..." said the bear as he backed up, waiting for the door to open as Kazooie looked on intently.

* * *

Shade had managed to put up a screen of commands. Smiling, she nodded.

"Okay, now, how do I override other commands?" she asked herself as she looked on the screen.

* * *

"No... No!" cried Rouge as the kitsune approached Sonic. "Sonic! No!"

* * *

"What the?" asked Knuckles in shock at what he had just heard Rouge yell. "Sonic?"

* * *

Cream was absolutely shaking in fright, Silver doing his best to comfort her as he looked on with fear in his own eyes at what had transpired on the screen.

* * *

It was like a horrible, horrible dream come true. Rouge looked on where she saw the tip of the katana.

_No, no, please don't let it be true, Oh God don't let it be true!_

But when Tails turned around to show what had happened, Rouge's fears were confirmed.

Tails had stabbed his best friend with a katana. The edge of the katana protruded out from Sonic's body, the cold silver blade covered in the hedgehog's blood. He groaned slightly from the pain, emerald eyes wide open as he stared blankly at the ground, his body suspended in the air by Tails.

"_Soniiiic!" _cried Rouge in disbelief as she looked on this.

Amy only had the strength to turn her head around at this point. But when she saw the sight that Rogue had seen, she twitched, seeming to know what had happened.

Slowly, Tails drew the katana out of the hedgehog, bright crimson blood flowing out onto the floor beneath him as he fell to the ground. He clutched the gaping hole the katana had punctured in his body as he let out a series of ragged breaths, eyes wild as he looked up at Rouge. She saw the fear eminent in his eyes, and instantly understood.

But Tails was not finished yet. He made several slashes along the hedgehog's body with the weapon, such that by the end of it, the hedgehog was losing blood way too quickly for anything to be done to save him.

Rouge barely had any time to gather her bearings before Eggman's laughter broke out over the scene as Sonic lay dying in the cold floor of Tails' cell.

"You think you're such hot stuff now, hedgehog?" taunted Eggman from above as Amy regained her strength. "Well, look who's laying on the floor dying now! You're only a teenager, Sonic! You could have avoided this! But no, you had to stop me! You're nothing, hedgehog! I win! I win I win I win I win! I win, and there is nothing you could do to stop me! I fucking win!"

The rose-tinted hedgehog had managed to crawl over to Sonic by this point. "Sonic, no!" she whispered breathlessly as she saw the hedgehog gaze up into her eyes.

Abruptly, the blue-furred rodent had grabbed Amy's hand, the blood beginning to flow out of his mouth as he looked at her.

"Amy..." he whispered breathlessly as he used the last of his strength to pull himself over to her.

And with his head in Amy Rose's lap, Sonic the Hedgehog breathed his last. Amy stared on in disbelief as she began to cry.

"No!" she screamed into the heavens. "Sonic! _Noooooooooo_!"

* * *

"N... no... Mr. Sonic!"

By this point, Cream was bawling into Silver's chest fur. Looking up, Silver could not help but feel sad at this development. Slowly, he cried too, hugging the rabbit girl as she sobbed her heart out.

* * *

"No!" cried Knuckles, instantly guessing what had happened.

And despite the fact that he knew nothing would happen, he banged his fists on the door to Tails' overly large cell.

Banjo and Kazooie looked on, their faces showing great shock.

"No..." said Banjo. "Sonic didn't die, did he?"

The echidna simply said nothing, instead slamming his fist on the door in anger.

The solitary tear that rolled down his cheek confirmed the fears of the bear and bird. Kazooie simply nodded solemnly as Banjo looked at the door, eyes squinting into a frown.

* * *

The doctor laughed maniacally as he saw the hedgehog he had always hated expire before his very eyes.

"There!" he cried defiantly. "Where's your hero now?"

He continued laughing diabolically as the full weight of what had just happened sunk in to everybody except Shade.

"I thought so!" he cried when he got no reply. "Now all that's left is to take over the world! It's too bad you won't see it!"

He laughed a little more, and Rouge could have sworn something had snapped; if he had said nothing about the alarm as of yet, then there had to be something wrong.

"Now, Tails!" shouted the doctor. "Kill Rouge!"

And then the kitsune was in the air, heading towards the bat. Unable to move much, the bat simply screwed her eyes shut let out a scream of pure terror.

* * *

"Okay, I got it!" said Shade as she saw the words 'OVERRIDE SECURITY COMMAND' on the screen.

* * *

The door that Knuckles was leaning against slid open rapidly. This caught Knuckles a little off guard, and he fell into the cell face first.

Banjo beheld the scene right as Rouge had started screaming. Realizing what was happening, the bear darted into the room.

"No!" he cried as he ran faster than he had ever run in his life.

And somehow, it was enough, for the honey bear had run in just in time to tackle the kitsune to the ground.

When the bat noticed the absense of pain, she opened her eyes to see the honey bear she had only seen in dreams up to that point pinning the kitsune down to the ground as a bird peeked out from his blue backpack.

"Kazooie, get that thing he's holding!" cried Banjo.

"Will do!" cried the breegull, holding her wrench out and wresting the fox's control of his katana as Knuckles rushed in.

The echidna was quick to act; he managed to get every other weapon in the area as far away from Tails as he could using only his feet. The bat looked at this scene with quite the expression of shock on her face.

"Knuckles...?" she asked. "B... Banjo?"

A groan sounded from Shadow as he looked up.

"Wha...?" he asked. "What happened...?"

It was then that the midnight hedgehog beheld the scene before him. Sonic's dead body being cradled by a sobbing Amy, Knuckles standing there where he had gathered the weapon stache, Rouge sitting there in shock, and a brown bear in shorts pinning Tails down.

The kitsune was not going to go without a fight. He struggled against Banjo's weight as hard as he could. No matter what, though, the combined weight of Banjo and Kazooie was large enough to hold the fox in place. However, Banjo was struggling to keep the fox down, so Knuckles ran over quickly and used his strength to hold some of Tails' appendages in place. The katana high in the air and Tails unable to act, Rouge smiled softly.

* * *

Shade, meanwhile, had overriden the security command over the control room, and as soon as Banjo had pinned the kitsune down she was heading straight for the control room.

She burst in quickly, noticing Eggman hunched over his control pad. Quickly, she ran to the pedestal on which five of the emeralds rested. One by one, she tore each of the powerful jewels out of their slots within the pedestal until all five of the Chaos Emeralds were on the floor.

The man known as Eggman simply turned around, grinning deliriously and chuckling.

"He he he..." he started laughing. "Yes... I did it! I took over the world! And now, everything is mine!"

Eggman violently swept his hand around. "Yes, everything is mine! It's all mine! He he he he he!"

"My... my god..." muttered Shade softly. "He's gone mad!"

And then the doctor simply sat in the corner, shaking tepidly and giggling madly to himself as he muttered so many things that Shade could not understand it left her flabberghasted. Slowly, the echidna shook her head. Slowly, she grabbed a pair of handcuffs from where they were on the ground. Cuffing Eggman to her wrist, she walked forward, not saying anything as Eggman giggled and mumbled incoherently.

* * *

Knuckles was the first one to notice when Tails stopped putting up a fight. Shortly after he did, his eyes were no longer blank, and the lustre that was in his eyes had returned quite quickly as Tails looked up in confusion at the bear who had pinned him down.

"W... what?" he asked uncertainly. "What...!"

And then, everything seemed to happen at once. He began breathing heavily, struggling against the honey bear that was pinning him down. "Oh, God!" he exclaimed. "Tell me it was all a dream! Tell me it was all a dream! Please! Tell me I didn't kill Sonic!"

Banjo looked down sadly as he slowly got off of the kitsune. It was then that Tails saw the body of Sonic the Hedgehog laying there as Amy bawled over the body.

"I wish it was..." replied Banjo, shaking his head as a tear came to his eye.

"N... no..."

The kitsune simple let out a scream of anguish as the blood on his hands was highlighted in the lighting. He simply looked up, tears coming to his eyes freely as he then cupped his face in his hands and crumpled on the floor.

Rouge had moved over to Banjo by this point, and lightly she tapped his shoulder. The bear looked down and got the first full view of the bat he had gotten in the real world. With a few tears coming to her eyes, Rouge shook her head.

Banjo simply gathered his lover into his arms and allowed her to cry against his chest as he closed his own eyes in grief for a hero he barely even knew.

And all was silent save the sobs and Eggman's muttering and chuckling, even when Silver, Cream, and Shade walked in on the scene. All was silent as everybody in the room grieved the death of Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy gripping his body against hers as everybody looked on the scene that the room held in sorrow.


	30. Chapter 11

Okay. The last chapter... the shit hit the fan really, really hard. Sonic is dead, Eggman's gone insane, and Tails is all emo after he came out of the mind control.

So what happens then? A filler chapter, a funeral, and an epilogue, that's what. Away first chapter after the ultimatum!

* * *

Chapter 11

Banjo and Rouge were the last to walk out of the base. Knuckles had taken the liberty to carry Sonic's dead body back to Angel Island. All the while, Amy was sobbing on the echidna's shoulder, Shadow and Cream following close behind as Silver lead the rabbit girl forward. The only reason Tails was moving was because he was draped over Shade's shoulder. The fox had gone into some kind of catatonic state; nothing anybody was saying to him was registering. And since Eggman was giggling and muttering madly as he was dragged along, he was not exactly up to replying either.

As they exited, Rouge shook her head as she felt Banjo's arm draped over her being.

"My..." said the bat as she walked with the remains of L.O.G.'s head in her arms. "I wish things didn't have to end up like this."

The honey bear shook his own head. "I can't believe that..."

"Well, at least we saved everybody else before lard tub could do much else," said Kazooie with a wave of her wing. "At least there's that."

"Yeah, that's true," replied Rouge. "But... if you guys had arrived sooner... then none of this would've happened... I mean, look at Amy!"

Bear and bird both looked at the pink hedgehog, who was still crying over the hedgehog.

"Yeah, I know why she'd do that," said Banjo. "Rouge... I don't think anything's gonna be the same..."

The bat shook her head. "Of course it isn't," she said softly.

"Wow, what a way to spoil a meeting party, eh?" asked Kazooie morosely.

The bat nodded. "Yeah," she said, feeling a little better. "What a way to spoil it. But still, I guess it's nice to finally meet the person I've always talked to in my dreams in real life."

"Yeah," said Banjo as the group halted. "And I think I should say you look better here than you do in the dream world.

Rouge blushed a little as Knuckles turned to Shadow.

"Okay, Shadow, you ready?" asked the red-furred echidna solemnly.

The black hedgehog nodded as all seven of the emeralds levitated around him. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked at Angel Island.

"_Chaos Control!_" cried the black hedgehog.

And in a white flash of light, the group had dissapeared. Mere seconds later, they reappeared at the shrine on which the Chaos Emerald sat. There, they noticed Humba and Mumbo both standing there, their heads turning when they felt the first traces of Chaos Control. Tooty was the first one to notice everybody that had been at the base. However, she glanced uneasily at the body of Sonic lying in Knuckles' arms. As Trophy Thomas turned around and looked, the she-bear ran over to the blue hedgehog and looked down.

"Eggman caused this, didn't he?" she asked, guessing what had happened instantly.

Knuckles nodded solemnly. "He did, Tooty," replied the echidna.

The bear shook her head softly. "And to think it would've happened to me..." she muttered under her breath as Banjo and Rouge came forward.

Tooty and Rouge connected eyes for a brief second before the bear jumped on her.

"You're okay!" said Tooty softly.

"Of course I am," replied the bat softly. "You know I'm more versatile than that."

The other three occupants of the space around them nodded.

"At least he didn't mess up my hair..." muttered Trophy Thomas.

To this, he got a harsh slap to the back of his head from Humba, who glared at him icily before turning her attention back to Sonic and nodding.

* * *

**_The Next Day..._**

Shadow had moved the island close to where the city of Station Square was. They had stayed in a small hotel for the night, but not before turning Sonic in to the mortuary. Before anybody had known what had happened, the death of Sonic the Hedgehog had made front page news everywhere. Earlier that morning, reporters had made an assault on the hotel where everybody was staying to arrange Sonic's funeral. So far, Amy and Rouge were the only ones that had been interviewed. And even then, they dared not spill everything about his death; they only said that Eggman had used mind control on one of them and that was all they spilled about that. The rescue was of course talked about, but otherwise they barely said all of the details.

The bat had returned from her inteview about ten minutes ago. Rouge was laying in Banjo's arms as the two of them were flicking through channels. Kazooie groaned from where she was hanging on the chair of the hotel room's desk as she watched the pictures flash by.

"Romance flicks are still ridiculously crummy, you know?" she asked flatly.

"Yeah," said Rouge as she felt Banjo tug on her. "I honestly think those people are out of their minds when they blindly go after love for people they've known for a few days."

"Hey!" protested Banjo. "You forget that's what we did!"

Rouge chuckled slightly as she traced her finger suggestively under his chin. "That's different," she said. "We got to know a whole lot about each other during those past few days."

"My God, you have no idea how suggestive that sounds, slut face," added the breegull as she turned to look outside the window.

Frowning, the former G.U.N. agent looked at the bird with a sour look on her face. "What's up with that name anyway?" she asked. "'Slut face'? I'm not a slut, you know."

"Well, ya look like one!" retorted the breegull, her feathers seeming to flare out as she spoke.

"Kazooie, enough," said Banjo assertively. "Rouge is fine the way she is, okay? So please, don't try to insult her."

Cooing under her breath, Kazooie crossed her wigs in front of her. "Fine," she said. "But only because you say so!"

"Thanks, Banjo," replied the bat softly.

"Don't mention it, Rouge," said Banjo, smiling softly.

The bat nodded as her thoughts got more morose. "You know, Banjo, I think it's also wierd how fast I've gotten over Sonic's death..." she said. "I got over it so fast... it was... oh..."

The bear hugged Rouge to his person closer. "I think you know why that happened," he said, resting his head on her shoulders. "It's always nice to have someone you love by your side when the worst goes by."

Rouge nodded as she put her hand up to Banjo's cheek. "That is always true," she said as she turned to face Banjo. "And that's always welcome." The bat then dropped a chaste kiss on the bear's cheek, smiling happily as she did.

Kazooie shook her head, cooing softly. "I wonder when Tooty's going to be back from Cream's room..."

"I'd imagine they're still going through contacts trying to tell everybody that isn't in the know yet about Sonic's death..." replied Rouge. "He had a lot of friends in his life."

"I'm jealous of him like that, really," said Kazooie flatly. "I mean, he got to hang out with those guys at Smash Brothers, for crying out loud! You think any of them are gonna show up to the funeral?"

Rouge nodded uncertainly. "I know Falco Lombardi's going to show up, whether or not he's on a mission," replied the bat. "The two of them were best friends during the Brawl tournament; if I didn't know any better I'd say they were brothers! And plus, Falco's too brash to be held down, so I know that he'll be going straight here the next chance he gets."

"And other than him?" asked Banjo softly.

"I don't know," said Rouge. "I wouldn't be surprised if some members of the roster didn't show up due to being in a time period that's slightly behind us..."

"Bah," said Kazooie with a wave of her wing. "I just hope those that do come end up being good friends of his!"

The phone on the desk started ringing loudly at this point. Groaning, Rouge shifted so she was off of Banjo's lap. "I'll get it!"

She promptly picked up the reciever, and no sooner had she brought it to her ear when suddenly a very loud chattering was heard. Shocked, Rouge pulled her head back.

"Amy, Amy, you sound pretty pissy right now!" she said into the phone. The person on the other line said some more things before Rouge held her hand in front of her in a soothing gesture "Okay, okay. Just calm down and tell me what happened."

There were a series of electronic little sounds coming from the reciever as Rouge listened to the voice. However, as he went on, Rouge's voice seemed to be full of shock.

"No way!" she said. "But he's not... He's smart, but he's no G.U.N. agent, I can tell you that much. How the hell did he get out of here without anybody noticing? Somebody had to have noticed!"

Some more electronic speech came from the reciever. "Okay, that's not good. So, what should we do?"

And then the voice drawled on. "Well, okay, I'll look for him with Banjo and Kazooie. I'll let you know if we turn up with anything. And be sure to hang on to that cell phone that Shade made for you; that'll help things a lot. All right. Goodbye."

The bat hung up the phone, and promptly jumped out of bed. She ran straight for her boots as she adjusted her body suit.

"What happened?" asked Banjo as he got out of bed, pulling his shorts up as he stood up.

"Tails disappeared, apparently," said the bat. "And now Amy is asking for us to find him."

"Oh, dear." said Banjo as he pulled the backpack that had Kazooie in it from the desk and put the straps around his shoulders.

Kazooie shook her head. "Oh, dear indeed..." she said with an unamused expression on her face. "You think he's out on the town?"

"That's where we're going to look, actually," said the bat. "Let's get moving; it won't be long before we lose track of him!"

The bear and the bird nodded, and then the three of them exited the hotel room, Rouge making sure to take her key card with her.

**_

* * *

_**

_"Tails? Tails, where are you?"_

_Amy had just gotten back from her interview. Finding the room she shared with Tails to be empty, she had looked all around the place in every concievable hiding spot. She had even checked the bathroom, but no matter where she looked she was unable to find the kitsune anywhere. It was then that she noticed that the keycard she had given Tails was in the little slot that was handed to her at check-in into the hotel._

_Panicking, the pink hedgehog ran over to the other rooms on her floor, knocking on Knuckles and Shade's room first. When the red echidna opened the door, he was surprised by how much Amy was panicking._

_"Knuckles, have you seen Tails anywhere?" asked the pink hedgehog quickly._

_"No," replied the echidna. "Why?"_

_"He's not in our room," she said._

_The red echidna's eyes widened, and just as quickly as Knuckles had heard this he closed the door, only to open it a few seconds later with his shoes on._

_"Oh, boy," said Knuckles. "That can't be a good thing... Have you checked anywhere else yet?"_

_"No," said Amy. "But I didn't see him at the restaurant as I was leaving the interview, and I didn't pass him in the hallway! And on top of that, the ice thing was still in the room and his keycard was in the little paper pouch!"_

_Knuckles' eyes widened at this. "Oh, dear," he said. "He must have run away right under our noses... but why?"_

_"Forget about why!" replied Amy, beginning to look more distraught than she had any right to be. "We need to find him, and now!"_

_"Okay, okay, calm down," he said. "I'm going to call Rouge to get her, Banjo, and Kazooie searching outside, and we can look around in the hotel, okay?"_

_"Okay, okay," said the pink hedgehog as she breathed in and out quite frightenedly._

* * *

Banjo, Kazooie, and Rouge were all out of the hotel. They had been running around Station Square for at least an hour trying to find the kitsune. They had asked as many passers-by as they had cared to think about, they had gone through every single alley, they had gone absolutely everywhere in the city.

And there was still no sign of Tails. As they sat on a bench in a nearby park, the trio shook their heads.

"Well, we can't find him anywhere," said Banjo, shaking his head. "Unless we're just not looking in the right spots."

"I think that might be it," said Rouge with a shrug. "Eh, I just hope we find him in time before something bad happens to him.

The breegull had ignored this conversation, instead looking out to see if she could see the kitsune from where she was. It was in the ferry docks right by where she was that she suddenly noticed something. Squinting, she suddenly realized a familiar patch of orange fur on the ferry ship as it was getting prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute..." said the breegull, squinting hard as she suddenly realized who it was.

"Holy crap!" Kazooie cried, jumping straight out of Banjo's backpack and surprising both bear and bat as she rushed to the ferry docks. "He's getting away!"

The breegull ran as fast as she could, Banjo and Rouge both standing up from the fountain and instantly seeing what Kazooie had seen. They both chased after the bird, all of it seeming rather futile as the boat had started sailing away.

"Hey, wait!" cried Kazooie at Tails as she ran onto the docks. "You're making a big mistake here! Get back here!"

But the fox dared not budge from where he stood on the ferry's deck as the boat pulled away from the dock. In fact, he retreated back into the boat where he was in safety.

"Hey!" cried the breegull as she leapt into the air. "Get back here!"

But the boat was already moving far away from the pier, and before Kazooie could glide after the boat to get Tails off of it, Banjo had grabbed Kazooie's foot quickly, thus causing her to get flipped upside down so that she looked up at Banjo's face from an odd angle. Turning to see Banjo nodding sadly, the breegull was about to speak up when Banjo patted her foot.

"Forget it, Kaz," he said softly. "I don't think there's anything we can do."

Kazooie was about to protest when Rouge shook her head. "And even if you had gotten onto the boat, I don't think there's anything you could've said that would have changed his mind," she said. "Just... We'll find him eventually."

The bird was still not convinced, and she ruffled her feathers slightly before letting out a sound of defeat.


	31. Lied der Waldtaub: Chapter 12

All right, so last time we saw Tails run away. Not going to be a big thing in TTLG proper.

However, it will set off the events of a sequel/spinoff that I'll publish a little later. So yeah, Tails runs away and heads to somewhere far enough away that nobody tracks him there except Cream. (You'll see why in a minute.) But yeah, he eventually winds up in China, where we can have a _Kung Fu Panda_ crossover! Although, like here, it won't be entirely conventional. If you know what I mean, of course. So don't expect the first person Tails meets to be Po, because if you do, hoo boy do you have a surprise headed for you.

So, yeah. Once we finish this, be on the lookout for _Through the Looking Glass: Penance_, coming to the Sonic the Hedgehog/Kung Fu Panda crossovers section as soon as this is finished!

Other than that, though, we still have a funeral and an epilogue to cover, so let's get to that, yes? On with the funeral!

* * *

Lied der Waldtaub: Chapter 12

**Tauben von Gurre! Sorge quält mich,  
vom Weg über die Insel her!  
Kommet! Lauschet!**

Nearly a week had passed since Tails disappeared. Everybody had gone back to their homes before the funeral, with Banjo, Kazooie, and Tooty staying with Rouge, Bottles and Humba staying with Amy, and T.T. and Mumbo with Knuckles. The entire group had come together in front of the funeral home now, where they knew Sonic's funeral was about to occur. It was a horrifically cloudy day, the perfect mood to match the clouds that gathered in everybody's thoughts that sorrowful day.

Rouge, Banjo, Kazooie, and Tooty were the first ones to arrive, everybody except Kazooie dressed in black. Banjo had foregone the backpack for the funeral, so Kazooie trotted alongside the small group.

They were joined really fast by Amy, herself dressed in black as she looked on with eyes of incredible sadness. Bottles and Humba were close by, the shamaness patting the girl's shoulder comfortingly. Upon seeing Amy, Rouge came forward and gave the pink hedgehog a friendly hug.

"I..." choked Amy, shaking her head. "I still can't believe he's gone... I want to wake up..."

Rouge pulled away, and it was then that Amy realized that the bat had foregone makeup. "I think we all feel that way, Amy," said Rouge softly. "I think we all feel the same."

Banjo nodded solemnly as he put his arm over the bat he loved so much. He then looked to Bottles and Humba. "I'm sorry I had to pull you two into this," said the bear apologetically. "I mean, L.O.G.'s death was enough, but to have to postpone his funeral until this..."

"Nonsense," replied the mole. "We're way too far from town, and, well, you know how things go. Shadow's going to take us back later, but until then we had nothing to do. So don't worry about it."

"Humba no mind," added the shamaness with a slight nod.

Banjo nodded as Tooty came from behind Banjo. The pink hedgehog looked down at the younger of the two bear siblings, Tooty nodding softly. "I'm sorry for what happened, Amy," she said softly.

The hedgehog fought to keep her tears back as she grasped the she-bear's hand. "It's not your fault..." she said, her voice cracking. "Oh... I can't believe this!"

She let out a whimper of sadness right as Knuckles, Shade, Trophy Thomas, and Mumbo walked in on the scene.

"Wow, she must have really felt for this guy," said the cheetah as he pulled his shades off of his face and stored them in the breast pocket of his black shirt. "I hope someone's like this at my funeral."

"Can it, pride face," replied Kazooie half-heartedly. "This isn't the time or the place for that crap."

"You can say that again," said Knuckles as he came forward and patted Amy's shoulder comfortingly.

The guardian's tan-furred counterpart nodded. "I still can't believe he's dead."

Banjo shrugged hesitatingly. "I don't think any of us can," repied the bear. "At any rate, we should probably step inside."

"We're still waiting for Cream, Silver, Shadow, and Vanilla to show up, though," replied Rouge.

A whoosh of wind was heard, and suddenly the black hedgehog was standing next to the group, nodding softly.

"I'm here," said the hedgehog as he rubbed his chin. "It's surreal that Sonic is dead, I'll be honest. He had such will..."

Raising one of her eyebrows, Kazooie was the first one to speak. "Are you saying you were jealous of him?"

"To a point, yes," replied the black hedgehog as he closed his eyes. "He was annoying sometimes, but... there's no denying that he was a good person."

Everybody nodded to this sentiment. "That's the truth," added Knuckles solemnly as a tear slipped out of Amy's eye.

A car pulled up to the funeral home rather slowly after the echidna had said this. When it stopped outside the funeral home, they looked to it to see Cream and Silver jump out first, and then they saw Vanilla step out of the driver's seat as she looked on.

"So, what's the story with everything after this?" asked Shadow.

"I managed to keep them from having a public memorial," replied the older rabbit softly. "They really fought until the end, I can tell you that much. But, it'll just be a burial now."

Everybody nodded at this. "Good," said Knuckles. "I don't think Sonic would've liked a public funeral, anyway."

Heads nodded again. The fight to keep Sonic from having a public memorial had been a hard one ever since the city commissioner had asked for one to be held. Thankfully, everybody stood on their ground, and Sonic would be buried peacefully the next day.

"I still can't believe Mr. Sonic's gone..." complained Cream softly.

"None of us can, dear," replied Vanilla as she patted her daughter's shoulder. "None of us can."

"I... I only wish Tails was still here..." she said innocently.

The mention of Tails' name made most of the people in the vicinity cringe ever so slightly. Heads nodded all around as they though of the kitsune's departure from Station Square.

"Sonic's gonna miss his presence there..." said Knuckles. "Chaos knows he will."

"Yeah..." said Banjo as he looked to the funeral home. "Let's go inside."

The group slowly entered the funeral home, their procession quite sad as they all either had their heads hanging, or were otherwise leaning against each other for support.

* * *

**Tot ist Tove! Nacht auf ihrem Auge,  
das der Tag des Königs war!  
Still ist ihr Herz,  
doch des Königs Herz schlägt wild,  
tot und doch wild!**

The lighting in the room where Sonic's funeral was going to be was rather dim. A bunch of chairs were set up in front of the casket, all looking at i as a podium stood off to the side. The casket was open, revealing the deceased hedgehog with his arms layed out over his belly as his closed eyes looked up towards the ceiling. On the side of the casket opposite the podium, a posterboard was set up, where many, many pictures of Sonic smiling with his friends in the same frame were attached. All of them showed the hedgehog at his happiest.

It only made things that much difficult for Amy as she looked longingly into the casket where her beloved lay dead. Tears were beginning to dry on her cheeks as she looked into the casket, her hands gripping the edge as she saw Sonic's still form laying in there. He seemed almost too peaceful, really.

When Knuckles simply patted her shoulder, the female hedgehog knew she had to move along. Reluctantly, she did so, glancing back at the casket again as she took a seat in the front row of the chairs that were set up there. Soon, the others paraded past the casket, all of them looking in.

Amy tried to peek in between each person to get just one extra glance at the hedgehog she loved so much.

**Seltsam gleichend einem Boot  
auf der Woge,  
wenn der, zu dess' Empfang  
die Planken huldigend  
sich gekrümmt,  
des Schiffes Steurer tot liegt,  
verstrickt in der Tiefe Tang.  
Keiner bringt ihnen Botschaft,  
unwegsam der Weg.**

She was unfortunate in this regard, as then some people started coming in, and then everybody obscured her view. The group Amy had come in with was the only group that was at the funeral home, and yet, everything seemed to be working against her already. Sonic stayed in her thoughts even after his death, like a phantom that needed to be released.

**Wie zwei Ströme  
waren ihre Gedanken,  
Ströme gleitend Seit' an Seite.  
Wo strömen nun Toves Gedanken?**

Looking on to Sonic's body longingly, the hedgehog half expected this to be one of Sonic's jokes. She was sure he would jump out of the casket and act as if nothing happened. And yet, she knew that what she had seen in Eggman's base when Sonic died was exactly the opposite of this.

**Die des Königs winden sich  
seltsam dahin,  
suchen nach denen Toves,  
finden sie nicht.**

And with these thoughts running through her mind, a new batch of tears came to Amy's face, despite all of her attempts to look strong in front of everybody. Knuckles simply patted her shoulder comfortingly, whispering words of comfort that did not register in Amy's brain no matter how hard she tried to listen.

**Weit flog ich, Klage sucht' ich,  
fand gar viel!**

* * *

Shadow was standing outside of the room when the first group to arrive at the funeral other than them pulled up. Shadow knew who it was the instant he saw a rather tall humanoid bird step out.

"Oh, Falco, you made it!" said Shadow as he also noticed the figures of Snake and Bowser walking out of the car. All three of the Smashers were dressed in black and they walked over to Shadow.

"Yeah, you know how things roll," said the bird as he shook Shadow's hand solemnly. "I... I can't believe he's gone... he's like the younger brother I never had... I don't believe it. I'm not gonna believe it until I see things."

The black hedgehog looked at the group. "I'm actually surprised you're here, Bowser," observed the hedgehog. "I figured you'd be too busy doing something else to go here!"

"Well, what can I tell ya?" asked the koopa king with a shrug. "Sometimes a guy needs to take a break from kidnapping the princess. And I'm pretty sure Sonic would never forgive me if I didn't bring our friendly rivalry into this. Things are always in good fun for him, I tell ya."

Shadow nodded solemnly. "It's still tough to believe he's dead," said the hedgehog. "And yet... It happened so quickly."

The three smashers nodded solemnly. "Yeah," said Falco. "I actually heard from Samus, Captain Falcon, and Pit earlier today. They're all gonna try to make it to the funeral as quickly as they can."

"Samus and Pit I know are going to be here," added Snake. "Falcon has a previous engagement, though; he'll high-tail it over here as soon as he gets out of it, though."

"And that's about it?" asked Shadow.

Bowser nodded, shrugging as he did. "Yeah. Falco would be on a mission now, but he snuck out of it to come here, so Fox and Wolf are occupied, the swordsmen are behind the times and didn't find out about it until today, the Kongs are busy rebuilding the island after what K. Rool did to it, and most everyone else is busy with other things."

Shadow nodded solemnly. "At any rate, I'm sure Sonic would be pretty happy to see at least you three here."

"Hey, anything for the little bro," replied Falco with a gesture of his wing. "I'm sure he would've done the same for me. So, where's the funeral?"

"Follow me, please," replied the black hedgehog.

And Shadow led them into the room in the funeral home where the mourners were gathered. The three Smashers then went lumbering around, talking to Sonic's friends and acquaintances and reminiscing on old times.

* * *

**Den Sarg sah ich  
auf Königs Schultern,  
Henning stürzt' ihn;  
finster war die Nacht,**

"Hey, Amy."

The pink hedgehog looked up, and when she saw Falco's eyes she knew who it was.

"Hey, Falco," she said, standing up.

The bird gave the pink hedgehog a small hug before they both looked at Sonic's body. Shaking his head, Falco left a wing on Amy's shoulder. "I can't imagine how hard this has gotta be for you," said the bird insightfully. "I can't believe that Eggman guy you guys talked about finally did something like this..."

**eine einzige Fackel  
brannte am Weg;  
die Königin hielt sie,  
hoch auf dem Söller,  
rachebegierigen Sinns.  
Tränen,  
die sie nicht weinen wollte,  
funkelten im Auge.**

"I only saw a bit of it," said Amy. "But... I don't know... I feel like Eggman's staring into the scene right now..."

Falco nodded, patting her shoulder as he felt a tear come to his own eye. "Yeah," he said. "I... I wish he had stayed alive long enough to enter the next tourney... It's... I can't believe it myself."

Amy nodded, not having to hear Falco finish to see what he meant. It was at around this point that Rouge, Banjo, and Kazooie had walked over. Hearing the bird's last words, the bat commented. "Yeah, none of us can. It just happened so fast..."

The bird and hedgehog both looked to the bat, bear, and bird trio. Falco nodded, raising his hand in a friendly fashion. "Hey, Rouge," he said. "You okay?"

"Considering that I saw the entire thing happen right in front of my eyes?" asked the bat with a shrug. "Yeah, I think so..."

"I dunno," added Banjo. "I guess things haven't been so good. I'm Banjo, by the way."

"Falco Lombardi," replied the Starfox pilot, extending his wing. Banjo shook it slowly, solemnly. "Sonic was like a younger brother to me."

Banjo nodded as Kazooie strutted around, talking to some of the other people at the funeral. "I think he had that effect on all of us," said Banjo. "I mean, I never met him personally, but I still feel his presence."

"Yeah, Banjo's my boyfriend," added the bat before Falco could start yelling about that. "And he was very busy trying to save the rest of us when Sonic died."

"Yeah, I wish there was more I could've done to save him..." said Banjo.

Shaking his head, Falco looked at the honey bear. "When you think about it?" asked the bird. "You probably did the best you could. So at least there's that."

"Yeah, I still think Sonic would appreciate your presence here," said Rouge softly.

The bear smiled ever so tenderly as Amy nodded at this. "I wish Tails was here," she said.

All three of the other occupants looked over to the coffin in which Sonic rested before nodding in agreement. "That I think is the greatest blow Sonic could suffer here," said Falco.

Banjo shook his head. "His death really did something to Tails," he said softly.

"Yeah; the last I saw of him he was headed on a ferry away from here..." said Rouge, shaking her head.

"Shame..." said Falco. "Sonic really would've liked Tails to be here. They were more like brothers than Sonic and I ever could have been."

All three of the others in the room nodded in agreement, and they carried on the small idle chat softly.

**Weit flog ich, Klage sucht' ich,  
fand gar viel!**

* * *

**Den König sah ich,  
mit dem Sarge fuhr er,  
im Bauernwams.  
Sein Streitroß,  
das oft zum Sieg ihn getragen,  
zog den Sarg.**

Around half an hour had passed. Samus and Pit had indeed shown up, as well as a few other of Sonic's friends that nobody really cared much about. Now, everybody was seated in the chairs that had been laid out. The wake had just started, and Shadow had volunteered to be the first one to speak. Amy was beginning to look for a simple look, despite the fact that Rouge was sitting next to her, patting her back comfortingly as Banjo looked to her.

**Wild starrte des Königs Auge,  
suchte nach einem Blick,  
****seltsam lauschte des Königs Herz  
nach einem Wort.**

"Sonic..." began Shadow as he stood at the podium. "What can I say about him. He was a little annoying, a bit of a bastard sometimes..." A few annoyed growls came out of the crowd as he said this. "But under that exterior... he was a good person. And I say that, mostly because it's true, but also because I know I'd never forgive myself if I didn't acknowledge that. He saved the world so many times, not out of greed, but because he felt it was the right thing to do. He did so many things for all of us... And even if I never really liked him all that much when he was still alive, I still respected him because he was intrinsically good. I'll miss that about him... Sonic, I hope there are plenty of places for you to run up in heaven. Knowing you, I don't think you'd be any happier."

The hedgehog nodded as he stepped away from the podium. He was met with the silence of heads nodding, with Amy sitting by as she shed tears.

**Henning sprach zum König,  
aber noch immer suchte er  
Wort und Blick.**

Pretty soon after Shadow spoke, it was Amy's turn to speak. She nodded, standing up and walking to the podium, trying her best to wipe her tears away as she sniffled. Her hands gripped the edge of the podium softly.

"I..." she began, choking up almost instantly. Hoping for confidence, she looked upon the face of the one she loved, praying that she could get some kind of confidence from him.

**Der König öffnet Toves Sarg,  
starrt und lauscht  
mit bebenden Lippen,**

But alas, Amy was only met with an anxious silence that seemed to choke the air at the funeral home.

**Tove ist stumm!**

"I..." began Amy as she turned back to the crowd. "I wish I had prepared something to say..." She continued on, now, knowing that Sonic would never forgive her if she didn't. "But... When you love someone... and they die... what can you prepare?" She cleared her thoat, tears beginning to come to her eyes. "I... I can't even begin to describe how much I loved him. I guess... the only thing that makes me angrier is... why didn't he tell me he loved me back sooner?" The pink hedgehog looked out to the audience, hoping for at least one gesture of agreement. Seeing Banjo and Rouge nodding to her, she swallowed and continued. "I... I can't tell you how much I'll miss him... B... but... I... I just wanted to say... Sonic... You were the best person I've ever known... I love you..."

And with this, Amy walked away, the tears streaming down her face as she took her seat next to Rouge. Looking at them, the pink hedgehog noticed that Rouge and Banjo were both having a tough time keeping themselves from crying in turn. Everybody else that had known Sonic really well spoke afterwards, but to Amy everything was drowned out by her own sorrow for Sonic.

**Weit flog ich, Klage sucht' ich,  
fand gar viel!**

* * *

**Wollt' ein Mönch am Seile ziehn,  
Abendsegen läuten;**

The burial the next day was pretty big. Thousands of fans of Sonic's were all trailing behind the main procession, which went mostly on foot. It was certainly a funeral for a hero, that was for certain, and the fans carrying signs showing their appreciation for Sonic was only that much more touching.

Banjo, Rouge, Amy, Knuckles, Cream, Vanilla, and Shadow were the closest to the hearse carrying Sonic's casket to the cemetary. The Smashers and Banjo's friends came in the formation next, and behind them the fans were all either holding candles or following with their hands folded in prayer. No matter the case, they all followed in great silence.

**Doch er sah den Wagenlenker  
und vernahm die Trauerbotschaft:  
Sonne sank, indes die Glocke  
Grabgeläute tönte.**

The pink hedgehog could not train her gaze away from the hearse. Neither could Banjo or Rouge, for that matter, but as the hearse slowly pulled up to the cemetary where Sonic was to be buried the sadness inherent in the situation finally came to full fruition. She then cried profusely over Rouge's shoulder. Unable to think of any other solution she could use, the bat simply patted the hedgehog on the head as everybody else cried as well.

And the hearse pulled into the cemetary, the long procession following along in silence as the sun blazed over them with only a few clouds peppering the vast expanse of blue.

**Weit flog ich, Klage sucht' ich  
und den Tod!  
Helwigs Falke war's, der grausam  
Gurres Taube zerriß.**


	32. Epilogue

Awright, awright.

So, last chapter was Sonic's funeral, set with bits of text from Gurrelieder. And in case you were wondering, yes, it's that piece that Rouge walked in on _waaaaay_ back in her Chapter 4. So, bringing more things to a full circle.

So, now we've seen Sonic's funeral. Let's cut to a month later and end this journey, shall we?

* * *

Epilogue

**_A Month Later..._**

Vanilla sat alone in her home, looking over the mail. When her fingers thumbed over a postcard, however, she smiled softly.

It had been nearly a month since Sonic's funeral. It was that night that Vanilla would learn that Cream had decided to follow Tails around the world with only a picture to help her out. She said she was going to find Tails and try to bring him back, while also trying to figure out where Cheese had gone to after she had freed him from the trap that had started the whole incident. She had announced this intention to everybody, but when most everybody objected to her going out lone, she stood her ground. Vanilla had had the hardest time letting Cream go; it was her own daughter she was entrusting to the world, and she was not sure it would be such a good idea to find him on her own.

Vanilla would have been worried to death in any other situation. However, Cream was a good girl; she often sent post-cards to Vanilla whenever she found an outlet for them, and when she could help it she also posted a picture of herself that she would sometimes take to show her mother that everything was going all right.

Turning it over from the picture of the tropical paradise that Vanilla did not know so well, she found a huge gob of written text. Glancing over it, she found it was detailing everything she had done in the past four days since the last postcard had arrived. Seeing a fractured heart right next to Cream's name, the adult rabbit's eyes brightened.

Looking at the postcard, her day had been made. She read the text that Cream had written down with the smile staying on her face.

* * *

Knuckles looked out onto the sky, Shade sitting by the echidna as he looked out into the night. The Master Emerald was on the pedestal behind them, and the both of them were admiring the stars from where Shadow had moved the island away from Station Square.

"Everything's changed so much," said Knuckles as he gazed out into the sky.

"Indeed it has," said Shade softly as she nodded in agreement. "I'm just glad nobody will try to steal this thing anymore."

"That depends," said Knuckles with a slight shrug as he sat down next to Shade. "That depends on whether Rouge steals it or not."

Shade looked at him incredulously. "When she's got a bear to love?" she asked. "No. That's not going to happen."

"I know," he said as he looked out. "But still, you get my point."

The Nocturnus echidna nodded before tuning to face the red-furred echidna. "Knuckles?" she asked.

"Yeah?" asked the echidna.

"What do you think's going to happen to us?"

The male echidna turned, glancing at Shade briefly with his amethyst eyes before the female was able to notice the smirk that had come to his face. "Well, we're all alone here, with nobody to stop us. Who knows?"

A little flustered by this, the echidna looked down, blushing madly before getting the heart to look back at her counterpart. "Are you sure it's a good idea?" she asked.

"Oh, come on, Shade!" said Knuckles as he inched closer and left a kiss on her forehead. "We've known each other for a while!"

"But..." said the female echidna. "I'm just so nervous about that..."

The red echidna nodded as they took each other's hands. "I'll go slow," he said, rubbing the quills on the back of Shade's head tenderly. "That good enough?"

The female echidna looked down, pondering for a second. She then looked at the echidna and nodded, planting a kiss on Knuckles' nose.

Knuckles took this as a cue; tackling Shade to the ground, they both kissed quite passionately with Shade's back against the hard stone of the temple that they were on.

* * *

Showdown Town had been in better shape than it had in a while. The Jiggoseum was still reduced to rubble and the reconstruction of L.O.G.'s gaming factory was only a quarter done, but otherwise the town was habitable. In fact, most of the denizens of the town were now in a comfortable living space.

It was on this day that Silver and Tooy were walking around the town a little hurriedly. The cast that had been on Silver's foot had been taken off a week before, and he was ever thankful for getting what he saw as something overly restrictive off. He was free to go wherever at that time, and going wherever was just what he had intended.

Tooty and Silver had both moved into Showdown Town around the same time that he had gotten his cast off. Banjo and Rouge were coming in that day, and so the hedgehog and the she-bear had both decided to vacate the house so that Banjo and Rouge could have a little room to themselves when they started living there. The two of them were heading off to a party that was taking place at Mumbo's warehouse, smiles on both of their faces as Silver recounted some of the times that he had spent in the future before the timeline had changed.

"...and then we pretty much got into a mudfight after that," said the grey-furred hedgehog with a gesture of his hands. "I don't think I've ever had as much fun with anyone after that."

"Oh, dear..." said Tooty, chuckling nervously as she heard this. "I'll bet your mother was pissed!"

"She wasn't," replied the hedgehog morosely. "My mom was already starting to fall ill when it happened. She wasn't in the mood to scold me."

The she-bear nodded. "I would think that would be pretty extreme..."

Silver simply nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I miss all the people I knew from the future."

"Well, why didn't you go back?" asked Tooty inqusitively. "I mean, you told everyone else, but you haven't told me. So, why stay here?"

The hedgehog shrugged as he moved along. "Well, to be honest?" asked the hedgehog. "I think it was for the best. Think about it for a second; if I changed the timeline, things would be for the better, yeah? But that means nobody that I knew there would recognize me since I did things all that time ago. I don't think I'd belong to the new future."

Tooty nodded. "Hey, you got friends here!" she said.

"That's why I stayed here in the present," said the silver hedgehog with a content smile as his amber eyes glanced down to Tooty's blonde hair. "You guys are just really good to me. Especially you, Tooty. It would be hard to find a person in the future I came from that's as cheery as you are. And that's with everything that happened, too!"

The bear nodded. "Yeah," she said. "It was really hard at first; there were so many times where I lost hope. And there was that stretch of time where I didn't even remember Banjo or what had happened either. But, I guess everything turned out all right in the end."

The hedgehog looked on the street in Showdown Town that they were walking down. "Yeah," he said. "I think that that's what matters most when we think about life; deal with the punches and hope everything ends okay."

"Yeah," said Tooty, suddenly noticing how slowly they were moving. "Still, I wish L.O.G. hadn't died. And Klungo dying means he's got no successor now..."

"Bah, we'll find something else to replace them," said the hedgehog non-chalantly. "Now let's get to Mumbo's place before we're late for their party!"

"Ah, right!" said the bear, looking at the wristwatch Silver had given her as a present and raising her eyebrows quickly.

The two of them then moved quickly through Showdown Town, Silver grabbing Tooty's hand as they rushed to Mumbo's warehouse.

* * *

Amy glanced at the pregnancy test she held in her hand. Glancing from the box back to the test itself, she was unsure what to think.

The pink hedgehog had been having several bouts of rather horrible morning sickness the week before. She was still mourning Sonic, and the fact that Shadow had been extraordinarily nice to her as of late was the only reason she had not killed herself by then. But when she found herself vomiting constantly in the past few weeks, she knew something had to have been happening.

After getting a tip from Rouge about it, the pink hedgehog had gone over to the corner store and bought a few pregnancy tests.

And looking at the results, she could not believe her eyes.

She was pregnant. She had also never had sex with anybody after she had engaged in it to comfort Sonic. Therefore, she was pregnant with Sonic's baby.

A wide grin spread across the rose-colored hedgehog's face, and then she jumped up in joy. The fact that she still had something that could remind her of the blue hedgehog she had loved so much was great in and of itself, but the fact that it was a life was even more glorifying to her.

Excitedly, she ran out of the bathroom of the small apartment that she lived in and grabbed her cell phone from where it had been charging until that moment. Quickly going through her contacts, she settled on Shadow's number and hit call. The phone rang twice, the hedgehog shaking in anticipation as she waited for the black hedgehog to pick up the phone.

"Hey, Amy," said Shadow softly after those two rings. "Are you okay right now?"

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Amy, unable to contain her excitement. "Shadow, you won't believe it! I'm pregnant! And I think it's with Sonic's baby!"

There was quite a lengthy silence as Amy got silence on her phone. Nervously waiting for Shadow's answer, she twiddled her fingers in excitement.

"What?" asked the male hedgehog from the other end of the line. "But... When did you two have sex?"

"I... it was the night before he died," said Amy as she shook her head. "I... I wanted to comfort him... and somehow... that happened..."

Amy could almost see the hedgehog blink before shaking his head. "Amy, please tell me--"

"We kept as quiet as we could, I swear!" said the pink hedgehog. "But... But Shadow! I'm pregnant with Sonic's child! I have something of his now!"

"I see..." said the black hedgehog from the other end of the line. "That's... That's wonderful, Amy. But... are you sure you're ready?"

"Of course I am!" protested the pink hedgehog passionately. "I wanna be there for my child! And I'm gonna be there where Sonic never was going to be!"

There was a short silence before Shadow continued. "I dunno, Amy," he said. "From what I hear, being a single parent is a little hard. Are you sure you want to do it alone?"

The pink hedgehog realized Shadow's point. Nodding slowly, she continued. "I guess that's right..." she said. "You want to talk it over later?"

"...Don't see why not," said the black hedgehog. "But still, I'm glad you found something good out of this."

"Are you kidding?" cried Amy loudly. "This isn't just good! This is incredible! I know Sonic's going to be smiling at me from the eyes of his son, I know it!"

Shadow chuckled on the other end of the line. "I'll see you tonight, then," he said.

"All right!" said Amy. "Bye!"

And when Shadow hung up shortly after, Amy Rose began dancing around her room in pure glee, still unable to get over the joy she felt upon learning of her pregnancy.

* * *

"Wow, you were right. This place really is quite nice."

"Yeah. And to think I used to have most of my adventures with Kazooie here..."

"Yeah, things were pretty crazy back then."

Rouge nodded at this.

Banjo and Rouge had arrived at Spiral Mountain earlier that morning thanks to Shadow. The two of them were now sitting on the mountain, Kazooie outside of the backpack as they all sat with their legs dangling over the edge.

"Can't be any crazier than what we had to deal with in your club," said Banjo. "Those people liked to party, I tell you!"

Rouge chuckled softly. "Yep," she said. "And those few drunk people are really, really hard to deal with."

"Indeed," said Banjo with a shrug. "I still can't believe you resigned from G.U.N. after the funeral."

The bat shrugged. "It was beginning to get rather tiresome anyways," she said. "I mean, between managing the club, stealing emeralds, and working for G.U.N... Yeah..." Rouge's hand then placed itself over Banjo's hand. "Plus, I wouldn't be able to get away with staying with you if I did."

Banjo blushed slightly, Kazooie shaking her head at how crummy she thought that sounded. "That's... true..." he said. "I just wanna live my life in peace."

"And being in a government agency won't help that sentiment, that much is for sure," said Rouge as she looked out onto the landscape of Spiral Mountain.

"Yep," said Banjo, looking up. "It's still so hard to believe everything that's happened."

"That's exactly how I feel," she said, looking up at the daylight sky as they both layed back on the mountain. "I think we got really lucky here."

Banjo shrugged as Kazooie sat down on the mountain. "Well, you know, Rouge?" asked the bear. "I really think that's understating it."

"Yeah," said the breegull as the bat looked to them confused. "I remember back when all this started... we had just gotten the emerald... and I asked him what he wanted to do with it... I wasn't sure why he didn't just throw it out..."

Rouge frowned slightly at this revelation. But when Banjo grasped her hand softly. "I told her I wanted to hold on to it, though," he said. "Thinking about it now, I think I definitely made the right choice."

The bat giggled, blushing softly as bear and bat turned to each other with smiles on their faces. "All things considered?" she said softly. "I'm glad I got to meet you... Even if... well, you know."

Banjo inched closer to Rouge, leaving a soft kiss on the bat's nose as his smile intensified. "Same here, Rouge," he said.

Kazooie then simply watched as Banjo pulled Rouge into his arms, the two of them whispering intimate sayings to each other throughout most of the rest of the day.

* * *

**Das Ende**

* * *

A/N: All right! With that, we end _Through the Looking Glass_!

Thanks to everyone that's kept... well, TTMB07 and StarryKirby on , and RoyalFanatic and FairyRedHime on Deviantart. So, uh, thanks, guys!

And with that, I'll leave it at that. Keep an eye out for _Penance_, and I'll see you guys soon!

-Herr Wozzeck


End file.
